The World Has Turned and Left Me Here
by Zesty Bod
Summary: Bonnie's stuck in hell with Kai, and Damon will be damned if he lets her stay there. Picks up right after 6x05.
1. Chapter 1

**I was halfway through the next update of "The Other Side," and then Thursday happened and messed up my brain. This will probably be about 8-10 chapters. Thanks for sticking with me. I promise to update "The Other Side" shortly, but this had to come out.**

Bonnie awoke on the cold hard ground in the cave, her nose and mouth full of dust and dirt. She couched harshly and then screamed in agony at the sharp pain in her stomach. She grabbed her midsection and looked down in horror at her blood-filled hands. Her vision blurred as she tried to sit up and every bone in her body ached. She managed to roll herself from her side to her knees, and even that small action took every bit of her energy.

"Damon," she called out weakly. When the only response was the echo of her own voice, she called again, as loudly as her weak body would allow. "Damon!"

He didn't answer and Bonnie felt empty. The space behind her eyes throbbed and she could barely make out anything other than the bright sunlight beaming down from the opening in the cave. A cough escaped her throat and she nearly keeled over from the pain in her stomach. She took several excruciating breaths before closing her eyes and counting to ten.

She couldn't freak out. Now was not the time. Panic only made everything worse.

When she opened her eyes again, her vision was still blurry but she fought through it and made herself focus. Her eyes fell on a shiny piece of metal and it was only after she crawled towards it that she realized what it was.

It was the ascendant, shattered in several pieces on the cave ground. Suddenly, the memories returned in a violent jolt. Kai had shot her. Damon tried to help. Bonnie sent him home, without her. She could vividly picture his face as he was sucked into the white light. Tears sprang to her eyes not only because he was gone, but because she was left alone with a psycho that had murdered his own family. There was no reason to think he wouldn't do the same to her.

Bonnie's head lowered until her forehead was on the ground and the cries racked her small body. Damon was really gone. The pain of his absence hurt her more than she ever imagined it could. The guy that she had sworn would be her lifelong enemy had become the most important person in her world. The thought of trying to survive without him was almost too much to bear. She let her sadness overcome her and when the tears had drained what little energy she had had left, she curled into the fetal position.

For several minutes, she lay there, feeling sorry for herself. She thought about giving up and allowing death to finally take her. She had eluded it so many times that it just didn't seem natural or right to come back yet again. Maybe this was her time. Maybe she had finally worn out her welcome in life.

But then she pictured Damon. She could see his unimpressed face and hear him lecturing her about being a quitter. Unlike most people who would grieve a friend's death, he would only be mad with her. They couldn't end like this, she knew. Not after everything they had been through. Their relationship couldn't end with her dead in a cave in a loop of 1994.

He at least owed her a hug for sacrificing her life for his. And she couldn't die until she got it.

So with that in mind, Bonnie pulled her injured body off the ground, inch by torturous inch. She wavered when she got to her feet and had to hold onto the nearest wall to keep her body upright. She held out a shaky hand and muttered "vereor." When nothing happened, she gathered herself again and said with all her energy, "vereor!"

The ground began to shake and slowly, Bonnie was lifted up and carried to the middle of the cave. She continued to chant and slowly but surely she was lifted out of the cave. When she got outside, she dropped her hand and fell hard into the ground. The wind was knocked out of her for a second, but she didn't stay down. She couldn't.

She grabbed her stomach and held her hand closely to the wound while she moved as fast as she could out of the forest and towards the hospital. She had to stop a few times to get her bearings and control the spinning in her head. When she finally made it to the hospital, she rushed to the nearest first aid kit and cleaned and bandaged her midsection. She wrapped some gauze all the way around her stomach and then stumbled into the kitchen. She found some pre-packaged sandwiches in the fridge and ripped open the first one she got her hands on. It had one slice of ham, a slice of American cheese and white bread that tasted old. It was nasty, but it was food.

After she wolfed down the sandwich, she took a minute to gain some strength and then she got to her feet and found some pain pills. S he stuffed a few bottles in her pockets and then started the long trek home.

She tried to think positive thoughts so that the loneliness of her situation didn't creep her out. But once the Salvatore mansion came into sight, fear gripped her bones. It was a big house to be in all alone and there was no telling where Kai was. She was hesitant as she stepped onto the lawn and she briefly wondered if she should set up camp somewhere else, somewhere that didn't make her feel so exposed.

She supposed she could have gone to her own house, or Grams's or even Elena's. But they didn't feel right. After so much time at the boarding house, she couldn't imagine staying somewhere else. So she lowered her head and walked in like she was going to battle.

She almost expected Kai to be waiting for her, but the house was empty as far as she could tell. Nothing was out of place and it felt the same as it always did. Bonnie crept around slowly, her hand out and ready to throw some magic even though she knew she was dangerously low on power. When she encountered nothing after a thorough sweep, she went to her room and nearly fell apart when she saw Miss Cuddles perched on the bed, exactly where she'd left her.

Bonnie had to fight back tears when she picked up the teddy bear and held her tightly. She kissed the bear's soft fur and allowed herself that moment before she stepped into the bathroom and eyed the shower. She really wanted to bathe but something about being naked and wet made her feel like she would be too vulnerable. There was no telling when or how Kai would make his presence known again and being caught in the shower wasn't the way to go.

So she decided to skip the shower and settled for a change of clothes. She stripped out of her dirty, bloody attire and pulled on some sweat pants and a t-shirt. She lay on her bed, snuggled with Miss Cuddles, but something didn't feel right. Something was missing and it didn't take much thought to realize that it was Damon.

Bonnie crawled off the bed and slowly walked to Damon's room. In all of their time together, she had never been in his room and she was a little intimidated by it even though he wasn't there to yell at her for snooping. With Miss Cuddles in her right hand, she opened the bedroom door with her left hand and stepped inside. Immediately, she was greeted by the smell of him: his soap, shampoo and clothes. He always smelled so fresh and manly and it was kind of hard to pinpoint it exactly, other than that his scent had probably become her favorite smell.

She pulled open one of his drawers and took out a flannel shirt. She brought it up to her nose and inhaled deeply, then put it on over her own shirt. She hugged herself and then climbed underneath the covers. His bed was so big and soft and warm and despite wanting to stay awake to keep guard, she was too comfortable. She held Miss Cuddles and sleep claimed her.

She didn't even know Kai was there until it was too late.

...

Damon was drunk, even by his standards. He had been through all the liquor in Ric's shitty little campus apartment and even after three whole bottles (one of bourbon, one of scotch and one of whiskey) in one hour, he still wasn't drunk enough.

Everything was fucked up. He couldn't sleep in his own bed because of the anti-magic barrier in Mystic Falls. Elena had erased their relationship from her memory. There was a vampire hunter on the loose, making life difficult for everyone.

And to top it all off, Bonnie was stuck in hell with that psychopath, Kai. Damon had played the moment of their separation over and over in his head, dissecting it and knowing that he should have reacted differently. He should have snapped Kai's neck, picked Bonnie up and beamed both of them home. Or he should have thrown down that damn ascendant when she threw it in his hands. But he was stuck there, frozen in shock, as Bonnie sacrificed herself for him. For him. He was used to her giving up her life and limb for others, but not for him. And he'd failed her. She was either dead or at the mercy of Kai, and death was probably better than that.

He ripped open the top of a bottle of vodka, which was not going to go down as well but what the hell. He just wanted to pass out so he could get Bonnie out of his head. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw that little smile when she said she didn't want to be with anyone else but him. He saw the tears streaking down her face when he left her.

The guilt was crushing him, and it was a burden he carried on his own. Of course after his return, everyone wanted to know about Bonnie. He'd only said "she didn't make it," which wasn't false. He didn't want to tell them that she was dead, but he couldn't very well tell them that she was alive either. He didn't know what to do and he didn't see the point of bringing anyone else into his bullshit.

He threw back a double shot of vodka and nearly gagged. The room was spinning but he kept drinking. He stumbled across the small kitchen and landed face first on the couch. He groaned and out of pure frustration, he kicked his feet back and knocked over the cheap coffee table. Papers flew around the room and he didn't even care. He fell asleep on the couch, with his body halfway on the floor and his mind flooded with images of Bonnie.

"Hey asshole."

Damon jumped awake and saw an irritated Ric standing over him.

"Why the hell are all my papers on the floor?"

Damon blinked a few times, and then he rested his head on the couch again and and shrugged.

"I'm drunk," he mumbled.

"Yeah I kinda gathered that from all the empty liquor bottles."

"Sorry," he said without any feeling or sincerity.

"Yeah right."

Damon felt a slice of guilt when he watched Alaric get on the floor to pick up the papers. He grumbled about students' exams and other teacher crap that Damon could not have given less of a shit about, but he dragged his body off the couch and got down to help. He stacked loose pieces of paper on top of each other in no particular order but he stopped when he saw a handwritten note with the words "Gemini coven" underlined.

His mind immediately went to Kai and he held up the paper and turned to Ric.

"What is this?" he asked.

Ric barely glanced at it and shrugged.

"Some wild goose chase that Stefan sent me on when we were trying to get you and Bonnie back. Or at least I thought he was trying to get you back. Turns out he was just blowing smoke up my ass and starting a new life."

Damon didn't miss the annoyance in Ric's voice, but he didn't care about his drama with Stefan at the moment.

"What do you know about the coven?" he asked.

"Not much. Some dead witches that turned into a dead end."

Damon thought for a second and then pulled out his phone and called Stefan, who answered on the second ring.

"Hey," Stefan said.

"Where are you?"

"The diner near campus. I was about to leave..."

"Stay there. I'll be there a minute."

"What...?"

Damon hung up before Stefan could finish his question and then he sped out of the apartment. He ran quickly to the corner near the diner, then used regular speed to walk inside. He spotted his brother at a two-person table and he took the seat across from him.

"What's with the urgency?" Stefan asked.

"What do you know about the Gemini Coven?"

Stefan frowned and hesitated in his answer. "I know that it was a coven of witches who may have been useful in getting you and Bonnie back. But they're all dead. Why are you asking?"

"They're not all dead," Damon said, his mind beginning to race with the possibilities.

"How do you know that?"

"Because Bonnie and I were stuck in hell with the witch who killed them all."

Stefan's eyebrows shot off his head and he froze midway to taking a sip of his coffee.

"What?"

"This douchebag named Kai. Long story short, he killed his whole coven, except for one sister, and they punished him by sending him to this dimension where we repeated the same day over and over. He couldn't kill himself, so it was like a living version of hell. He showed up about four months after Bonnie and I had been there, and he's the reason she didn't make it out."

"Wow, that's...that's kind of insane. You say one of them is still alive?"

"His sister. He let her live and I bet we could find her."

"I'm not trying to be a a party pooper or anything, but what good would it do if we found her? You're back and Bonnie's dead."

"We don't _know_ if she's dead," Damon said through gritted teeth.

"I thought you said she didn't make it."

"Right. She didn't make it out with me. I never said she was dead. If she's not, we need to find her and bring her back. And even if she is, I'm going to bring her back so she can be buried at home, with people who care about her, and not some psycho. She saved my life and I'm not just gonna leave her there like a bag of trash."

Damon hadn't realized he was raising his voice until a couple of people looked his way. He tried to relax his shoulders a bit and Stefan looked at him with a surprised expression.

"Uh, okay, yeah, I agree," Stefan said. "How can I help?"

Damon took a deep breath and took a few seconds to think.

"We need to find Kai's sister. And we need a Bennett witch. It took a Bennett witch to send him there, a Bennett witch to get me out, and it'll probably take one for me to get Bonnie back. Are there any of them left?"

"Bonnie's cousin, Lucy. Bonnie talked about her a couple of times."

"You have her number?"

"No, but Elena might."

Damon whipped out his phone and called Elena.

"Damon. Hi," she said awkwardly. He almost rolled his eyes. He knew they still had some things to talk about but now wasn't the time for that.

"I need Lucy Bennett's phone number," he said.

"What? Why?"

"The time I spend explaining it to you is time I don't have. Do you have the number or not?"

He could tell from her silence that she was shocked by his response, but then she told him to hold on. A moment later, she repeated a number back to him.

"Hold on, hold on."

Damon waved for a waitress to come over and he took the pen right out of her hand. He grabbed Stefan's palm and wrote down the number.

"Hey!" Stefan said.

"Oh, shut up, you baby," Damon said. He read the number back to Elena to confirm that it was correct.

"Yeah, that's right."

"Thanks."

He almost hung up, but Elena spoke again.

"Look, are we going to talk at some point?"

"At some point? Yes. Right now? No. Thanks for the number."

Damon hung up on her and then called the number on Stefan's palm.

"Who is this?" Lucy answered. Such a Bennett greeting.

"Damon Salvatore," he said. "Remember me?"

"Oh yeah, Katherine's cute little lap dog."

"Funny. I need your help."

"And why would I help you?"

"Because your cousin's life depends on it. Where are you and how soon can you be here?"

"Wait a minute, something happened with Bonnie? What? Where is she?"

"In hell, with a guy who is probably torturing her as we speak. Now are you going to ask me twenty more questions or are you going to help?"

She only hesitated for a second. "I'm in Atlanta. I can be there in the morning."

"Do that."

He hit the "end" button on his phone and for the first time since returning home, he felt a little bit of hope. He was going get Bonnie back, dead or alive, if it was the last thing he did.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Bonnie awoke with a splitting headache. She felt like she had been run over by a truck, and she couldn't move her arms or legs. She struggled to open her heavy eyes, and when she did, it took her a moment to focus and realize that she was tied to a chair. She saw the lit fireplace out of the corner of her eye, then lifted her head just enough to stare straight ahead, where she was met with the sight of a smiling Kai.

"There she is," he sang. "Good evening, Sleeping Beauty."

"What..." Bonnie started to talk but her throat felt like it was full of rocks. Kai hopped up and offered her a cup of water. He pressed it to her lips but she moved her head to the side and grimaced.

"It's not poisoned. Promise," he said with a sick smile.

She cleared her throat and swallowed to help ease the thick feeling. "What do you want with me?" she asked.

"I thought that would be pretty obvious, Bon-Bon. I want you to help me get out of here."

"I can't. The Ascendant was destroyed."

"Yeah, I saw," he said with a frown. "Oh, well, we'll just have to figure out something else, won't we?"

He offered the cup again, but Bonnie only eyed him with disgust. He shrugged and tossed the water into the fireplace.

"No need to be rude," he said.

"I'll never help you. Even if I could, I'd rather sit here and rot and than let you return to the real world. You should just kill me."

"Thought about it. I seriously, seriously thought about it. When you were sleeping so soundly, I wrapped my hands around your neck and almost choked you until your eyes bugged out." Bonnie tried not to shiver in fear as he looked at her like he was talking about the weather. "But I kinda need your Bennett blood to get out of here and unfortunately for me, dead witch blood doesn't work. So, no, I won't kill you."

She sighed, feeling only a slight sense of relief. "Then what are you going to do?"

Kai smiled like he was happy she asked the question, and he pulled up a chair. He turned it around so that he was sitting in it backwards, with his knees grazing against Bonnie's.

"We are going to wait for your boyfriend to come back and save us."

Bonnie's stomach clenched when she thought of Damon coming back for her. She had secretly wondered if he would, if he could, but she didn't want to get her hopes up.

"He can't come back," she said softly.

"Sure he can! Where there's a will, there's a way."

She didn't respond and he cocked his head to the side.

"What? You don't think he'll come back for you? You don't think you mean enough to him? Are you worried that now that he's back with his epic love, Elena, that he'll just let you die here with me?"

Bonnie tightened her jaw so he wouldn't know that he was hitting all of her insecurities about where she stood with Damon. She wanted to believe that she mattered to him, but their history was littered with his callous comments about her and his lack of concern regarding her safety. But things were surely different now. They had bonded in a weird way. She needed him. She missed him.

"You say his name in your sleep," Kai whispered as he got uncomfortably close to her. He ran his finger along her cheek and she scooted away as much as her bindings would allow. He smiled. "You think he loves you as much as you love him?"

She closed her eyes so that she wouldn't get caught in his creepy gaze and so she wouldn't allow her mind to slip into that territory. She and Damon weren't like that. They were friends. They had each other's backs.

"This little will-they-won't-they thing you two have going on is awfully entertaining, I'll give you that," Kai continued. "That's why I waited so long to reveal myself. I was kinda hoping that maybe one day, all that bickering would lead to some hot, steamy sex that I could join."

"You're disgusting," she spat.

"I've been called worse."

He finally moved away and Bonnie slowly opened her eyes. He hopped on the couch with his feet propped up.

"And now we wait," he said.

"Even if Damon comes back for me, he'll never take you with us."

"That's where you're wrong, sweet cheeks. See, while you were sleeping, I borrowed some of your magic and bound us together as a little insurance policy. If I die, you die. If you go home, I go home. Get it?"

He chuckled and Bonnie didn't know what to do. She felt weak and tired and she knew that her magic was low, if not completely depleted. She had to fight every urge not to hang her head and cry, and Kai swung his legs off the couch and again began to approach her. She winced when he grabbed the ropes around her arms and to her surprise, he untied her. He freed her from the leg restraints and for a brief second, she considered breaking away from him. But she was too weak, and Kai roughly grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the stairs. She fought him as best she could but was ultimately powerless when he forced her down the stairs and into the dirty basement of the Salvatore mansion.

"I know you were all snuggly and warm in Damon's bed, but this is your new bedroom," he said as he threw her inside.

Bonnie fell on her knees and by the time she managed to get up, he had already slammed and locked the door. He looked through the bars and grinned.

"Sleep tight."

With that, he was gone. Bonnie groaned in frustration, then she screamed loudly, letting all her hurt and pain escape in her anguished cry. A million thoughts raced through her head, mostly related to regrets about the all the decisions she'd made that had led to the situation she was in. She was broken and alone and pathetic, and pathetic was not something she ever was.

She made her way to the cot in the corner of the room, where there was a small travel-size pillow and an old, itchy-looking blanket. She crawled underneath it and looked around her dank surroundings. This was bad, no doubt. There was no guarantee that Damon would, or even could, come back for her. So she had to depend on herself. She was going to get her strength up, let her magic slowly return, and then she was going to fight like hell.

...

Damon was drunk. Again. Lucy had proven herself to be a waste of Bennett blood. Yes, she was older than Bonnie and therefore more experienced and in control of her magic. But she was also significantly less powerful than her younger cousin and she knew next to nothing about the Other Side and alternate dimensions. To make matters worse, Damon and Stefan had taken a trip to Oregon that proved to be nothing but a waste of time and money. The people in the small town where the Gemini coven lived claimed to know nothing about a boy named Malakai or a group of witches. Damon knew they were lying but there wasn't anything he could do about it.

So he was drunk again and sloppily going through any and all papers that he had collected about the coven. Everything was vague and not very helpful. He recalled the newspaper that he and Bonnie had seen, the one that detailed the deaths of all of Kai's siblings. He tried to find a copy while they were in Oregon, which no such luck. He was Googling the hell out of it on Ric's computer and still coming up empty.

"Hey, I'm going out for a little while. You'll be okay?" Ric asked.

"Yes, _Dad_, I promise not to pee in my bed."

Ric cracked a smile. There was a knock on his door and Damon didn't glance up when he heard a woman's voice. He heard Ric and the woman greet each other, then there was an awkward silence that he knew revolved around him.

"So, this is my friend and very temporary roommate, Damon," Ric said.

"Nice to meet you," she said.

Damon still didn't look up. "Charmed," he said dryly as he took a long swig of his drink. After all, he wasn't really in the mood to make nice with a woman who, knowing Ric's dating history, was probably batshit crazy. He could practically heard Ric rolling his eyes.

"He just got back from an extended trip and he's kind of cranky," he explained. "Ready to head out?"

"Yeah, let's go. Try not to drink too much, Damon, or I'll end up having to pump your stomach."

Ric laughed heartily at her lame joke and Damon flipped her off just as they were closing the door. He abandoned his fruitless google search soon after and shut the computer down. He sank into the couch and tried to watch TV but his mind was on Bonnie. He had stopped letting himself wonder if she was alive. She was Bonnie Bennett; of course she was alive. She would go down kicking and screaming. So now he wondered what she was doing, whether she was in pain, how much hell she was giving Kai.

His thoughts were interrupted when his cell phone rang. It was Elena, and he put it down without answering. She had been blowing up his phone for days, wanting to talk about "them" as well as get information on Bonnie. Damon just didn't have the energy for either of those conversations. He'd already told the Bonnie story twice, once to Stefan and once to Ric, and he wasn't going to tell it again. He was still furious with Elena for erasing him from her memory and he had no intention of giving her the easy way out by talking about it.

He turned off his phone completely and returned to his mindless TV watching. He wasn't sure how many drinks or shows he'd been through, but he woke up suddenly when the door opened and Ric and his female friend crashed through. They were kissing and groping and seemingly unaware that he was still there. A fiendish smile broke out on his face.

"Don't fuck her too hard, Ric," he said, and they sprang apart. The girl's eyes were as wide as saucers and Ric's face was red. "Or I'll end up having to pump her stomach."

Ric looked like he might attack Damon, but the lady broke in and shook her hands.

"No, it's okay," she said. "I really should get going. I'm on call tonight and I need to be available in case there's an emergency."

"Oh, okay, yeah," Ric nodded, even though he was still looking like he wanted to continue their session.

"I'll call you, okay?" she said, and then flitted out.

Ric shut the door behind her and slowly turned around to Damon, who was smirking.

"Cock blocker," Ric said.

Damon held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, man, I'm all about a free show. I just wasn't sure if your lady friend was."

"Her name's Jo."

"Wow, interesting," Damon said dryly.

Ric stopped in the kitchen for a beer and then joined Damon on the couch.

"She _is_ interesting," he defended. "She's really nice. And sweet. And smart. She's a doctor."

"Haven't you had your fill of crazy ass doctors?"

"She's not crazy. She's very normal."

Damon didn't respond because he didn't really care either way. They sat quietly and watched TV for a few minutes.

"Well, she's kind of normal," Ric said.

Damon frowned. "What?"

"I tried to compel her to forget me. It didn't work."

"She's probably on vervain," he shrugged.

"Yeah, maybe."

Something about the way Ric responded led Damon to believe that he suspected it was more than vervain at work.

"Maybe there is something kinda weird about her," Ric said, mostly to herself. "I mean, nothing too much, just..." He kind of waved his hands around and Damon waited for the punch line. "She's 35, no kids and no family. She hasn't come right out and said it but I get the feeling that her childhood was bad or something. She's never said anything about brothers or sisters or parents. It's just weird."

"Maybe she's one of those career-first chicks. It doesn't sound that weird."

"But to end up in Mystic Falls, Virginia without some kind of family ties?" Ric asked. "Who does that? People either live here because they're from here, or because they're supernatural."

"How do you know she's not from here?"

"She told me that she's from the northwest somewhere. I was too busy trying not to rip her throat open to listen. Maybe Seattle or Portland or something?"

Ric took a swig of his beer and at first, Damon brushed off the whole conversation. But as they sat there, quietly, his mind began to point out some red flags to him.

Jo was a woman. She apparently had no kids or family. She was from the northwest and potentially supernatural. Before he could stop himself, his mind made a leap. What if she was Kai's sister? All the pieces were there: the fucked-up childhood, lack of relatives, possibly from Oregon and maybe even a witch incapable of compulsion.

"Call her back here," Damon said.

"What?"

"Jo. Call her back up here. I want to ask her something."

"Why? You barely acknowledged her earlier."

"Just do it!" he snapped.

Ric frowned and eyed him suspiciously. He must have made the same connections that Damon had because his frown eased slightly but he shook his head.

"You don't think...?"

"I _do_ think. I need to know if she's the person I've been looking for."

"You do realize this is like a million to one shot, right?"

"One's better than zero."

Ric was hesitant but he slowly pulled out his phone and called Jo.

"Hey, Jo, it's me," he said. "Have you gotten very far away? No? Ok, great, do you mind swinging back by? I think you...uh...left your watch." He smacked himself in the head for the lame reason and Damon shook his head. "Sure, see you soon."

He hung up and Damon asked, "Really? She left her watch? That's the best you could come up with?"

"I panicked!"

"You have absolutely no game, Ric. Remind me to help you with that when all this is over."

A couple of minutes later, there was a knock on the door and Damon hopped up excitedly to answer it.

"Your girlfriend works fast," he said over his shoulder. He swung the door open, expecting to see Jo but finding Stefan, Elena and Caroline, all of whom looked worried.

"Did you know your phone was off?" Stefan asked.

"Yeah, kinda did that on purpose."

"Damon, what is going on?" Elena demanded, marching into the room like it was her apartment. "You've been acting all weird since you've been back and you won't tell us anything about Bonnie."

"You could fix all your concerns by having Ric wipe your mind again. That seemed to work last time," he sniped.

Caroline jumped in before they could start arguing.

"Damon, please," she asked softly, "There's obviously something you haven't told us about Bonnie. Is she dead or not? And if she's not, why are you doing all this running around and getting Lucy involved? I need to know if I should finally give up hope or not."

Damon sighed heavily. He wanted to tell all of them to fuck off, but something about Caroline's heartbroken face tugged at his undead heartstrings.

"I don't know if she's dead or not," he said. "We were supposed to both come back and things got screwed up and I'm trying to fix it. Okay?"

Caroline took a deep breath, but then nodded.

"What can we do to help?"

He put his hands on her shoulders and said, "stay out of my way."

Several people began speaking at once. Stefan said Damon should welcome any help he could get. Ric asked why the hell everyone had decided to congregate in his apartment. Elena wanted to know since when Damon cared so much about Bonnie. It was a question he couldn't even begin to answer because Elena didn't know him anymore and she didn't know what he and Bonnie had gone through.

Luckily, there was another knock that halted all conversation. Damon opened the door, this time to see that Jo had returned. She looked at him with wild wide eyes and smiled sheepishly.

"Ric said I left my watch?" she asked, holding up her left wrist and showing the watch there.

"Ric is terrible with women," Damon said with his most charming smile. "He wanted you to come back and that was his best pick-up line. Kind of pathetic, I know."

"It's cute," she said with a smile.

Damon held out his hand. "Come in."

He could tell from her facial expression that she was wondering if he had multiple personality disorder, but she walked inside and then looked a bit startled at all the new people inside.

"Uh, hey," Ric said as he got off the couch and approached her. "There are some more of my friends: Stefan, Elena and Caroline."

The three of them said hi as their names were called and Damon saw the perfect opportunity to jump in and find out if Jo was indeed the woman he was looking for. He walked her to the couch and poured on the charm.

"So, Jo, Ric tells me that you're not from around here. What brought you to our lovely little town?"

"Oh, you know, residency, medical stuff. I came to the area and just loved it, so I decided to stay."

"No kids? Brothers and sisters? Parents?"

"Damon," Ric said in a warning tone.

"No, it's okay," Jo said. "Uh, no, unfortunately my family all passed away in an accident and I've been kind of a gypsy ever since."

"Sorry to hear that," Damon said with not an ounce of sincerity. "Where are you from exactly?"

"Oh, this little town in Oregon you've probably never heard of."

"That's interesting because I just met a guy from Oregon and all his family passed away, too. Maybe you know him?"

Jo, as well as Elena and Caroline, looked at Damon like he was crazy.

"Well, it's a big state, I don't..."

"His name is Kai. Malakai, to be precise."

Damon knew he had hit paydirt when Jo's face drained of any traces of color. Her mouth was still open from her previous statement, but she tried to overcome her shock.

"I don't know who that is," she said.

"Tell that to your racing heartbeat," he said lowly.

Jo looked at him and recognition flooded her features.

"You're a vampire," she whispered.

"We all are," he shrugged.

The horror was obvious on her face as she looked at each one of them and stared at Ric like he was disgusting. Damon felt slightly bad about outing him, but hey, this was for Bonnie.

"Now, about Kai," he started, but Jo jumped up and shook her head.

"I'm leaving."

"Oh, no, you're not."

He let her get to the door before he sped in front of her and gave her the vamp face. She backed away slightly as the red and black veins took over his eyes.

"What do you want from me?" she asked, her fear evident.

"I want to know how to get my friend back."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you do. I think you know that Kai was banished and punished to live the same day on repeat for the rest of his miserable life. Somehow, my friend and I ended up there and she's still there. I want her back."

Jo shook her head and tried to walk past him again, but he blocked her. She held out her hand and gave him an aneurysm, but he shook it off and laughed, much to her surprise.

"You think that little witchy migraine is going to do anything to me?" he asked. "Bonnie's been giving them to me for years so I've built up a little tolerance. Not to mention, she's way stronger than you so this little thing you're trying to do isn't doing anything more than tickling my brain."

Jo dropped her hand and looked around the room for some kind of help, but none came. Ric looked down at his shoes and she turned back to Damon.

"I can't help you."

"Can't or wont?"

"Take your choice," she spat. "Kai can never be released. He's a psychopath and kills just for the fun of it! Do you _know_ what he did to my family?"

"I'm not going to get him. I'm going to get Bonnie."

"He'll find a way out. I can't let you do that."

"So you'd prefer that an innocent girl stay there with him while he tortures her?"

"Better her than me."

Damon allowed her to walk past him for a moment, then he ran after her, turned her around and grabbed her by the neck. "Damon!" Ric shouted, but he didn't listen. He slammed Jo against the wall and choked her just hard enough to cause some panic.

"You will help me," he directed in a sinister voice. "Or I will haunt you every day of your life and make it a living hell for you. I can do it. Just ask my brother. And when I get bored with you, I'll rip your heart out and eat it."

"Damon," Elena said, and he realized that she and Caroline were pulling on his arms, trying to get him to let go. But he had more than a hundred years of vampire strength over them and he shook them off like flies. He squeezed Jo's neck just a little harder, watching the fear take hold.

"What's it gonna be?" he asked.

"Yes," she managed to get out before she fainted.

He let go and she gasped for air, holding her neck and looking at him like a scared rabbit. He saw tears collect in her eyes and he would have felt bad if he wasn't plagued with guilt over leaving Bonnie. He didn't care who had to step on or kill to get her back. He could almost hear her judgey little voice lecturing him about choking people and why that was bad. He almost smiled.

"You need a Bennett witch," Jo said after finally catching her breath.

"Perfect. I've got one. Next?"

"A blood sacrifice from someone who loves the one you want to save."

"Me," Caroline said immediately. "I'll do it."

Jo stared at Damon for a long time, and he stared right back.

"We'll open a portal," she explained. "You've got 24 hours to get her and then the portal opens one last time. If you don't make it, you're stuck there. There is no redo."

Damon thought about being stuck there, in hell, with Bonnie and a guy who couldn't be killed. All he'd wanted when he saw there was to get back home. And all he wanted now was to retrieve Bonnie and make sure she was safe, even if it meant risking the rest of his never-ending life.

"I got it," he said. "Let's do this thing."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Kai was nothing if not a creature of habit. Over the past several days, Bonnie had picked up on his routine. She could hear him walking around upstairs in the kitchen at the same time each morning, whistling the same stupid song. The noise would stop for a while and she assumed he was eating, then he would shuffle down to her cubby hole in the basement, open the heavy door and slide a plate of food to her. Pancakes. It was always pancakes. He would smile sadistically and then shut the door, leaving Bonnie to stare at his offering.

After three days of starving herself, her stomach lurched at the sight of the pancakes. She wanted to crawl towards them, devour them whole and lick the plate. But her pride wouldn't let her. For one, she didn't trust Kai at all. Although she believed that he didn't plan to kill her, at least not yet, there was no telling what else he might do. Additionally, his sick little mind game of teasing her with the one food that reminded her of Damon was so mean that she couldn't accept the meal.

And the lack of food was starting to get to her. Her stomach felt like it was eating itself. Her head hurt in a way that she had never experienced. Her vision sometimes doubled or faded in and out. She just wanted to lie down and sleep until she never woke up. It was a sad thought but she was so tired, so weak, so worn out. Every time she got even the smallest amount of her magic back, Kai came down and took it away from her. It was a vicious cycle that had to end before she lost her mind.

So on another nondescript day of captivity, while she heard Kai moving around upstairs and humming his irritating ditty, she devised a plan. She had to keep in mind that if she hurt Kai, she would hurt herself. She hadn't actually tested his statement that they were bound, but she wasn't going to take any chances. He may not have been able to die, but she didn't know if that extended to her.

She rested on her cot while things got quiet. Soon, he shuffled his way down the stairs and opened her door.

"Breakfast, Bon-Bon," he said as she slid the plate inside.

Her instinct was to turn away in disgust, but she instead found the strength to pull herself off the cot and walk to the plate. Kai was clearly surprised by the move, and he stood in the doorway with his arms folded.

"Finally decided to eat, huh? That's good. Wouldn't want you all wasted away whenever your boyfriend arrives. Eat up. They're blueberry, just like you hate."

He smiled and Bonnie she had one shot to implement her plan. She purposely stumbled and landed right in his arms, catching him off-guard. He tried to hold her up right and in that brief second of being close to him, she rose her leg up with every ounce of energy in her body and kneed him right in the crotch. She heard and felt a crunch and he went down like a sack of bricks, holding his family jewels and screaming in pain.

While he was on the ground, Bonnie felt a bolt of energy and adrenaline and she took the opportunity to run. She hightailed it up the stairs and only stopped long enough to grab the first pair of shoes that she saw. The shoes, which were several sizes too big, flipped and flopped on her feet but she didn't stop. She kept running, huffing and puffing until she felt like her lungs might give out. By the time she finally stopped, she was in the forest. She didn't know exactly where and she didn't care. She just had to get away from Kai.

She put her hands on her knees and breathed deeply. The adrenaline slowly drained from her veins and all that energy from before slipped away. Her hands and legs began to shake and soon, she was battling just to stand up. Her vision blurred, tension built behind her eyes and a faint feeling became to powerful for her to fight off. She stumbled along the forest, grasping at trees and anything to keep her balance, but the many days of not eating caught up to her. She fell to one knee, then the other joined, and she face-planted on the hard ground.

When Bonnie came to, her vision was foggy and her hearing muffled. She could tell that someone was speaking frantically to her, shaking her and screaming but it all sounded like a jumbled mess. She faded in and out of consciousness and in one moment of awareness, she felt something press against her mouth. She was too tired to fight, then she tasted metal in her mouth. Iron? Copper? It was warm and shiny and after a few gulps of it, she recognized it as blood.

She tried to turn her head but she was held in position, forced to drink the blood. After a few gulps, it started to taste good, like a hot sweet spicy thick soup that her aching stomach had been waiting for. She found the strength to sit up a little more and each swallow was stronger and deeper. She could feel her wounds healing, her bones strengthening, her vision returning. When she opened her eyes again, she was met with a sight that she wasn't sure she'd ever see again. He was looking down at her, holding her closely with his wrist to her mouth, his blue eyes wide with concern.

"Damon?" she asked.

...

Damon had worked quickly to get a hold of Lucy and assemble the crew at the Salvatore crypt. Lucy and Jo stood off in the corner, going over the intricacies of their plan and rehearing the spell. Caroline, Elena and Ric stood quietly and apprehensively while Damon paced back and forth like a caged animal. Stefan stood in front of his brother and took him by the shoulders.

"Hey, you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just wish these witches would hurry up so we can get Bonnie back," he said, eyeing them like he was suspicious of their plan.

"They're working as fast as they can," Stefan assured him. He squeezed his older brother's shoulders and forced Damon to look at him. "Do you know what you're doing?"

"Yeah."

"You understand what you're risking here, right? If you don't get back in time, you won't come back."

Damon looked at Stefan like he was stupid.

"She saved me and I'm returning the favor," Damon said. "There's nothing to think about."

He jerked his shoulders away and paced again, impatiently looking at his watch every few seconds.

"We're ready," Lucy announced.

"Finally," Damon grumbled.

Lucy and Jo formed a two-woman circle around Damon and magically lit candles. Lucy's grimoire was open as a slight wind picked up.

"When you get there, you have exactly twenty-four hours before the portal opens for your return. It will stay open for one minute. Anyone who's standing in the white light when it opens will be transported back here. Anyone was isn't there will be lost forever. Do you understand?" Jo asked.

"I understand."

Jo nodded once and then gestured to Caroline, who scurried over and then bit into her wrist. She spilled some of her blood on one of the candles, which shot up in tall flames. Jo and Lucy began to chant and with each recitation, the flame grew higher and the wind blew harder. Their voices got louder and more serious with each turn, and Damon squinted when a portal began to form. He was about to walk through it, when Stefan reached out and grabbed him.

"Let me go with you!" he called over the sound of the wind and chanting.

"What? No!" Damon shouted back.

"I've already lost you once," Stefan told him. "At least this way, we'll be stuck together wherever we are."

Damon would never admit it, but he he was touched by his sentiment. With the smallest nod ever, he gave Stefan permission and Stefan slid underneath the witches' combined arms and didn't look back as he stepped into the portal with Damon. A blinding white light overtook them both and the next thing they knew, they were falling into a hole in a cave.

Damon landed chest-first on the cave ground and then Stefan landed on top of him.

"Ow, damn it!" Damon screamed.

"Wasn't exactly a soft landing for me either," Stefan said as he stood up and cracked a few bones back into place.

"Lose some weight, why don't you," Damon mumbled as he looked around.

His eyes fell to the large pool of dried blood in a corner, and his throat dried as he remembered Bonnie lying there, bleeding out but still giving him the opportunity to go home. A part of him hurt knowing that she was in such pain, but another part of him was happy that she wasn't still there, dead on the ground. She had obviously moved. Now he only had to find her. He jumped up the hole in the cave and called for Stefan to follow him. They walked together through the forest, in the direction of the boarding house. Damon didn't know what to expect or where he might find Bonnie and in what condition.

"Damon," Stefan said, stopping suddenly in his tracks. Damon turned to him and Stefan tapped his ear. "I hear a heartbeat."

Damon's senses went on full alert and he tried to hear the heartbeat but was unsuccessful. His vamp powers seemed muted in the time warp and he didn't know why his were on the blink while Stefan's seemed to be working just fine. But he was happy to let his brother lead him in the direction of the heartbeat, and when they came across the source of the sound, he froze in his steps. There lay Bonnie, face down on the ground. He rushed to her and turned her over. Her face was gaunt and pale.

"Bonnie!" he shouted. She was limp in his arms and he pulled her close and felt for her pulse. There was one, but it was light. "Come on, Bonnie," he said. "You don't get to die on me yet." He tore into his wrist and shoved it to her lips. She didn't respond at all and he shook her a little, trying to jar her mouth open. "Come on, Bon-Bon, drink up for me."

He had to manually wrap her mouth around his wrist and a few trickles of his blood poured into her mouth before the wound closed. He bit into himself again, harder and deeper until the blood was practically gushing out. He put it to her mouth again and this time, she suckled softly. She grimaced and tried to turn away but he didn't let her. She actually began to drink and with gulp, some color returned to her cheeks. She sat up a little bit on her own, and he encouraged her to continue until she sighed and her head fell back. He waited impatiently for any sign that she was going to wake up, and then she opened her eyes.

He hadn't realized how much he had missed her green eyes until she was looking at him. Seeing her lifeless on the ground had done a number on him in a way he hadn't expected and it took everything in him not to pull her into a bone-crushing hug.

"Damon?" she asked weakly, frowning in confusion as though she wasn't sure he was really there.

A small smile formed on his lips and he wiped some of her matted, dirty hair out of her face.

"That's right, Judgey," he said softly. "You didn't think you'd get rid of me that easily, did you?"

He could tell that she wanted to smile but every movement took energy that she didn't have. That didn't stop her eyes from watering, though.

"You came back for me?" she asked.

"Of course I did."

He thought about adding some teasing comment like he normally did when a situation was too intimate or intense, but he didn't. A tear streaked down her cheek and he wiped it with his thumb, then she pulled him into the hug that he had been wanting since he saw her. She hugged him with everything in her little body and he returned the fervor of her embrace. He took a deep inhale of her and told her that it was okay.

When she pulled away, he helped her stand up. It was only after she was on her feet that she even noticed Stefan standing against a tree, taking in the sight of her and Damon.

"Stefan," she said in an appreciative tone. "You came too?"

"I figured I owed you one," he said with a small smile. "And besides, someone's gotta keep Damon out of trouble."

"Ha, ha," Damon said dryly. "Come on, let's get out of here."

He reached for Bonnie's hand and as soon as he took it, she collapsed and her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

"Bonnie!" he screamed.

He picked her up and saw a streak of blood pouring from her neck. He looked closer and realized that a wound was slowly stretching from one ear to the other, as if someone was slashing her neck invisibly. His mind immediately went to Kai and he gritted his teeth.

"What the hell is happening?" Stefan asked.

"Kai. He bound them together," Damon said. "Come on."

He scooped Bonnie up in his arms and they vamp sped to the boarding house, where they found Kai sitting at the kitchen table, casually cutting his own neck.

"Oh, look who it is," he said with a smile. "Bonnie's white knight and his less attractive brother. Hello. I'm Kai."

"Put the knife down," Damon directed. "You'll kill her."

"And that won't do any of us any good, will it?" Kai asked. He put the knife down and shrugged. "Fine. I was going to stop soon anyway. I just wanted to repay her for that shot in the balls from earlier. Little bitch hurt me right in the one spot where it couldn't hurt her. I would think it was clever if my nuts didn't still hurt."

"What is going on?" Stefan demanded.

"Oh, so not only are you the ugly brother but you're the dumb one, too," Kai said. "I tied my life to Bonnie's so you two wouldn't get the bright idea to kill me or leave me behind."

"There's no way in hell you're going back with us," Damon told him, still cradling Bonnie in his arms.

"If you take her, you take me. Or else once she's in that white light, I'll stab myself in the heart and you'll be going home with a very lovely corpse."

Damon's nostrils flared. His fingers itched to snap Kai's neck, but he couldn't take the chance of hurting Bonnie any more than she already had been. Kai strolled up to him and patted his shoulder.

"Welcome back," he said with a big smile. "We missed you." He leaned closer to Damon and whispered, "especially Bonnie. She called for you in her sleep. Mostly like 'Damon, help," he said with a high girly voice. "But sometimes like 'Ooh, Damon, right there, harder, deeper."

He broke into hysterics and in a flash, Damon handed Bonnie to Stefan and he zoomed to Kai until he was pushing the twerp so hard into the hall that some of the wood cracked.

"Damon," Stefan warned. "If you hurt him, you hurt Bonnie."

"Yeah, Damon," Kai said even as Damon's hands were around his neck. "Wouldn't want to hurt your witch, would you?"

Damon's teeth were clenched so hard that he was sure they would break. He wanted so badly to just squeeze Kai's neck until his head popped like a balloon. But he couldn't. He slowly released him and Kai shook it off like it was nothing.

"See you guys later. Dinner's usually at 6. Bonnie might be hungry."

He whistled as he walked away and Damon huffed like a man about to explode. He was ready to attack like a bull being teased with a red cape and the only thing that snapped him out of it was Bonnie's pathetic whimper. She still hadn't gained consciousness and he took her from Stefan and carried her upstairs. Stefan followed as he lay her down on the bed in his room and then disappeared to run some bath water for her. Judging from the way she looked, Kai hadn't exactly let her bathe. The thought that he might have done worse things to her made Damon so mad that he very nearly ripped the tub out of the floor.

When the water was high and hot enough, he turned it off and went back to the bedroom, where Stefan was keeping watch over Bonnie. He could tell from his brother's face that he had a lot of questions, but Damon didn't feel like answering any of them. Explanations were for another time and place. He bit into his wrist yet again and went through the whole process of getting Bonnie to drink. When she woke up, he shook his head.

"We've got to stop meeting like this," he teased.

"What happened?"

"Kai's crazy ass cut his neck so you'd be hurt." Damon gently tilted her head to the side and frowned. "The wound's closed but you need more blood to get rid of that scar."

"No more blood," she groaned. "I need food."

"Then I'll make you dinner. Just like old times."

Bonnie slightly turned her head and looked at Stefan pleadingly.

"Stefan, can you make dinner? Damon's cooking sucks."

"Hey!"

Stefan smiled and nodded. "Of course. It's the least I can do."

He excused himself and shut the door behind him. As soon as he was gone, Damon turned to Bonnie and looked at her seriously.

"What?" she asked quietly.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?"

She sighed. "Can it wait until after I eat?"

"Yes."

"Good."

She tried to scoot past him, but he took her arm and stilled her movements. She raised an eyebrow.

"Did he touch you?" Damon asked.

"He took my powers every day," she said with a roll of her eyes. "So I couldn't fight him with magic."

"That's not what I mean. Did he _touch_ you?" He couldn't bring himself to say the word, but the thought of Kai violating Bonnie in any kind of sexual way had been a worry since the moment they were separated. "Because if he did, I swear to God that I will make him suffer in the most inhumane ways."

Bonnie looked embarrassed by the question and she quickly shook her head.

"No, he didn't."

"Are you sure?" he insisted.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Because you're the suffer in silence type and you'll let awful things happen to you and not tell anyone. So I'm asking you straight out right now, did he touch you? Don't lie to me."

Bonnie took his hand and placed it over her heart so that he could hear the steady rhythm.

"No," she said, staring straight into his eyes. When her heart didn't speed up or flip-flop with the telltale signs of a lie, he felt infinitely better. "Can I go now?"

He nodded and watched her get off the bed and walk into the bathroom. He left the bedroom to give her some peace, but he stood guard at the door just in case Kai decided that he wanted to pay her a visit. He waited patiently, sitting against the door, while Bonnie took her time bathing and getting dressed. He stood up when he heard her about to come out and she jumped back when she saw him.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Keeping an eye on you." He offered his hand. "Come on. I smell dinner."

...

Stefan watched in amusement as Bonnie's head fell back and she sighed in contentment. He wasn't sure he had ever seen such a small woman put away so much food, but she had devoured a lion's share of his chicken parmesan and still had room for several chocolate chip cookies. (The pre-cut frozen cookies were Damon's contribution to the meal). He had to admit that she looked way better than when they'd found her in the forest. It was amazing what a bath and some food could do for one's spirits.

"Oh my God, Stefan, that was so good," she groaned, rubbing her full stomach. "I feel sooo much better."

"I'm happy to oblige," he said with a smile.

She stretched and then smiled at him. "I think I got stuck with the wrong Salvatore. Maybe you could teach Damon a thing or two."

"Hey," Damon frowned. "You like my pancakes."

"I _grew_ to like them," she said. "I didn't really have a choice. You made them every morning!"

"And you ate them every morning like a good girl."

She stuck her tongue out at him and he did the same. Stefan watched the two of them, as he had been all day, truly and utterly fascinated at what he was seeing. They were fighting like always, true, but it was a very different type of fighting than he was used to. It was playful and nice and perhaps a bit flirty? He wasn't even sure he recognized his own brother.

"I'm sleepy," Bonnie announced. "Thank you for dinner, Stefan. I'm going to bed now."

"Great, we'll come with you," Damon said as he stood up at the same time as Bonnie.

"_We_?" she asked.

"Yes, Stefan and me. We're staying in the room with you."

"We are?" Stefan asked.

"We're not letting that psycho get close to you again," Damon said. "Now come on, let's go."

He ushered Bonnie up the stairs and gestured for Stefan to join them. Stefan supposed that Damon was right. After all, from what he'd seen of Kai, the guy was not opposed to torture. So he followed his brother and Bonnie into Damon's huge bedroom and he watched as Bonnie went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and Damon starting looking through his drawers for pajamas. He pulled out some drawstring pants and a T-shirt and tossed them to Stefan, then found his own. They all took turns in the bathroom and when Stefan was finished, he saw Damon stretched out on one side of the bed, with Bonnie sitting next to him.

Damon's back was propped up against the headboard and Bonnie was leaning on her arms, facing him. It struck Stefan that Bonnie was wearing a very small T-shirt, no bra and shorts that stopped very high on her thigh. She looked completely comfortable like that in front of Damon, and she had a big smile on her face as they talked. He actually felt a little out of place with them as he took the spot next to her, forming a sandwich composed of two Salvatores and Bonnie in the middle.

"So, how was home?" Bonnie asked, looking at Damon as if she hadn't even noticed Stefan's presence.

"It sucked," he said. "The magic barrier around Mystic Falls kept us out and I was staying with Ric in his cramped apartment."

"How is he doing?"

"Fine," he shrugged. "Dating some weird chick that turned out to be Kai's sister."

Her smile fell. "What?"

"Yeah. She helped us get here, though, so I guess she's not all bad. Lucy helped, too. She's kinda useless but she came through in a pinch."

"Hmm," she said as she nodded slowly. "And how was Elena? Did you guys have your epic reunion?" she teased.

"Not really. She erased me from her memory. She had Ric compel her to forget me."

Bonnie looked shocked by that information and she reassuringly patted his leg.

"I'm sorry, Damon. I know how much you were looking forward to seeing her again. That really sucks."

"Yep."

"Did you see everyone else? Caroline? Matt?" She had an expectant look on her face and even Stefan knew that she was purposely not asking about her boyfriend.

"Jeremy?" Damon sang.

She looked down and nodded.

"Yeah, I saw him. He's still an emo punk."

Bonnie narrowed her eyes at him for a brief second, then looked down again. "Is he seeing someone?" she asked quietly. Her green eyes flitted up to Damon and Stefan expected his brother to tease her or throw it in her face that Jeremy was indeed seeing someone. But Damon just offered her a sympathetic half-smile, and she got the gist. "Oh."

"He's not worth your time anyway," Damon offered. "He's a loser."

"What's she like?" she asked, completely ignoring his digs at Jeremy.

"I didn't talk to her."

"Oh. Well what does she look like? Is she ugly, at least?"

"Nope. She's pretty." Bonnie's face fell. "She kinda looks like you actually." Her eyes raised again. "You should be happy. Imitation is the highest form of flattery."

"I guess," she grumbled.

"You turned him on to a whole new set of women, Bon-Bon. You know what they say. Once you go black, you never go back."

She hit his leg.

"Somehow that doesn't make me feel better."

"You know what else they say," Damon said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"No, Damon, what else do they say?" she asked sarcastically.

"Once you're with Damon, nothing's ever the same-on."

Stefan did not expect for Bonnie to throw her head back and laugh as hard as she did, especially because the joke wasn't even funny. But she laughed hard, showing all her white teeth, and Damon seemed pleased with himself because he grinned.

"Wow," Bonnie said, wiping a tear from her eye. "That was so lame."

"You liked it," Damon said. "See? You missed me."

Bonnie got a look on her face that Stefan could only describe as shy, and she shrugged.

"I didn't _not_ miss you," she admitted.

Damon smiled. "I didn't _not_ miss you, too, Judgey."

And then they were staring at each other. Not their usual you're-about-to-have-the-aneurysm-from-hell staring, either. Flirty staring. Lusty staring. Staring that made Stefan wonder if he had entered the Twilight Zone.

"So guys," he interrupted, "we should probably hit the sack. We've got to be on our toes tomorrow so we make sure we're at the portal on time."

Damon finally pulled his eyes away from Bonnie long enough to nod in agreement. Bonnie sighed and crawled up to the top of the bed where they were. She settled in between them, close enough to share her body heat but not close enough to touch. They were silent for a few minutes, then she spoke up.

"Thank you guys," she said softly. "For coming to get me."

She squeezed Stefan's hand, then let it go. He fell asleep, and when he woke up in the morning, he wasn't even surprised by what he saw.

He wasn't surprised that Bonnie was holding Damon's hand.

He wasn't surprised that their fingers were interlaced.

He wasn't surprised that her head was on his chest, and his cheek was on top of her head.

He wasn't even surprised when he realized that somewhere along the way, Damon and Bonnie had obviously fallen hard for each other. And he definitely wasn't surprised that neither of them knew it.

The trip home was going to be interesting.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"We need a plan," Damon said.

It was the next morning, and he was standing at the window in front of the kitchen sink, keeping an eye on Kai. The lunatic was laid out on the front lawn, blowing bubbles like a four-year-old. Damon scowled.

"Well, the easiest thing would be for Bonnie to unbind herself from Kai," Stefan said. Damon turned and looked at Bonnie, who was gorging herself on her second Spanish omelette.

"What do you think, Bon-Bon?" Damon asked. "You up for that?"

Bonnie took a breath from eating, washed down her eggs with some orange juice, and then shook her head.

"Undoing a life tie takes a lot of magic and my energy is really low. I don't think I have enough strength to do it."

"Even after polishing off two three-egg omelettes?" Damon teased.

She smirked. "You'd be eating like this too if you had been starving in a dungeon with a psycho stealing your magic every day."

"Touche," he shrugged.

"If that's off the table, we need another idea," Stefan said. "We don't have much time to figure it out. That portal will open this afternoon and if we miss it, we're all stuck here. I know Kai is tied to you, Bonnie, but do we know for sure that if you go back home, he does too?"

Before Bonnie could answer, Damon spoke up and said, "that's not a risk we can take. We need to operate on the assumption that whatever happens to Bonnie, happens to him."

"So it sounds like he's going back with us," Stefan sighed.

He slumped his shoulders looking defeated and Damon turned around to look out of the window again, frowning as soon as his eyes landed on Kai.

"I can try to undo the tie," Bonnie said after a few quiet minutes. "If it works, then we'll leave without him. If it doesn't, we'll come up with another plan."

Stefan sat up a little, obviously hopeful that Bonnie would be able to pull some magic out of her hat. Damon was much more doubtful, and he slowly turned and crossed his arms while Bonnie took a deep breath and held out her hands. She chanted lowly a few times and Damon further frowned when nothing happened. He could tell that she was trying to light a candle, a simple trick that she used to be able to do with no effort at all. The wick in the nearest candle flickered just slightly but then went out. Bonnie began to shake and when a streak of blood fell from one nostril, he shook his head.

"That's enough, Bonnie," he said and turned back to the window.

Bonnie opened her eyes, confused as to why he had stopped her. Stefan smiled sympathetically and offered her a tissue. She pressed a finger to her nose and sighed disappointedly.

"Sorry," she said.

"Don't apologize," Stefan said. He reached over and patted her hands. "You've been through a lot. We'll come up with a way to get around this."

A million thoughts were running through Damon's mind, all revolving around how he would get Bonnie home. He personally didn't care if they had to take Kai with them or not. He was going to kill the little bastard the first chance he got, anyway. He was so concentrated on his revenge fantasy that he almost didn't notice when Kai sat up in the yard, wobbled a little bit, and wiped his nose. Damon squinted and leaned in a bit further, hoping to get a better look. He was fairly certain that he saw red on the tip of Kai's fingers.

"Huh," he said. "Kai's nose is bleeding, too."

Stefan's ears perked up and he walked over to the sink to see for himself. He narrowed his eyes as the wheels in his mind began to churn.

"Do that again, Bon," Stefan said.

"What?" she asked.

"You want her to hurt herself?" Damon asked in a surprised tone. "You see that her nose is bleeding, right?"

"Yeah," Stefan said, turning around to both of them. "And so is Kai's. Your magic is affecting him. Do it again."

Bonnie and Damon met eyes but neither objected as she closed her eyes again and tried to light the candle. The blood trickled from her nose again but she kept going. She only stopped when a searing headache claimed her brain.

"Augh!" she screamed.

Stefan tore his eyes from her to look out the window again and, sure enough, Kai was holding his head in agony.

"You're hurting him," he said.

"No shit, Sherlock," Damon said in an irritated voice. "They're tied together. I thought we already established that." He handed Bonnie three more tissues and she quietly thanked him.

"You're not thinking," Stefan said, abandoning his post at the kitchen window. "We can't kill Kai because it would kill Bonnie, right? But what about incapacitating him?" he asked.

Bonnie wiped her nose and nodded slowly, catching on to his plan.

"If I push myself hard enough, I'll pass out," she said. "Which means he'll pass out, too. If we stay unconscious long enough, after we make it home, you can get Lucy or Kai's sister to undo our life tie and you can kill him." She nodded again, getting more excited the more she talked.

"What?" Damon frowned. "No. That's too much."

"It's the only way that we can all safely get back."

"You're talking about putting yourself into some kind of witchy coma, Judgey. I didn't come all this way to get you just for you to kill yourself. We'll think of something else."

"There is nothing else," she told him.

"This is probably our best bet, Damon," Stefan said, clamping his hand on his brother's shoulder. Damon yanked away and gave him a death glare, all while Bonnie hopped up from the table, dead-set on carrying out Stefan's idiotic plan. The two of them chit-chatted back and forth like two giggly teenagers about how they were going to carry out their plan, and Bonnie seemed blissfully unaware of the fact that she was, once again, putting her life in danger for the benefit of others.

Damon left them to their conversation and went to the living room, where he poured himself a drink and stewed over their predicament. When he heard Bonnie go upstairs, he thought about following her so he could ask her why she was constantly putting on her Superwoman cape to save people who didn't deserve it. He fought off the urge for a while, but after a third drink, he put his glass down and marched right up to her room. He knocked once and didn't give her time to answer before he barged inside. He stopped short when he saw her folding clothes on the bed and putting them into a suitcase.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

She looked at him like he was crazy. "Packing."

"For...?"

"The trip home."

The irritation Damon had felt for her melted away and he found himself feeling incredibly sorry for the young girl in front of him. He slowly approached the bed, removed her clothes from her bag and zipped the suitcase shut.

"Hey, what are you doing?" she asked.

He turned to her and took in her youthful face, full of confusion. He took her cheeks in his hands and shook his head.

"You don't have to pack, Bonnie," he said gently. "This isn't your home. You're not going on vacation. You're going home. Everything you need is already there."

Her eyebrows furrowed and for a whole minute, she looked like she might argue with him about that. But then realization donned on her and her defiant stance fell.

"Oh," was all she said.

Damon watched as her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and she looked down. He lifted her head to him and his dead heart kind of broke when he saw some tears in her eyes. She quickly wiped them and pulled away from him.

"You must think I'm crazy," she said.

"I don't."

"I've just been here so long..." She looked around and laughed sadly. "In the weirdest, most fucked-up way possible, this place started feeling like home. That's insane, right?"

"It's not insane," he said in his same calm voice. He pulled her back to him and cupped her cheeks again. "The only thing you need to pack is Miss Cuddles."

Bonnie cracked a sad smile and nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

He let her go so that she could return all the folded clothes to the drawers and closets. He took up residence on the foot of the bed. He could tell that Bonnie was still embarrassed so he decided to switch gears.

"So, how sure are you that you can pull off this little trick without killing yourself?" he asked.

"Pretty sure," she sighed.

"Doesn't engender a lot of confidence in the plan."

"It's the only plan we have."

"It's not. We could just take him back, alive and kicking, and figure it out when we get home."

"He'd just kill me the first chance he got."

"Not if you're still tied together," Damon reminded her.

"Fine, then he'd kill _you_. Or Stefan. Or someone innocent who has nothing to do with any of this. I can't risk that."

"Why not?" he asked, his annoyance growing again. "Why do you constantly feel the need to save everyone but yourself?"

Bonnie sighed and rubbed the temples of her head. "Damon, please don't start."

"No, I'm going to start, Bonnie. You've been doing this since the day I met you: putting your life in danger for everyone else. For Elena, for Stefan, for Jeremy, for _me_. It has to stop. You're young and you're good and you deserve to live. If you kill yourself doing this stupid little stunt, don't expect me to come back for you again. I'm not following you to some _other_ Other Side or Heaven or Hell or wherever you go next time. This is the last stop on the Save-Bonnie's-Ass Express."

When he was finished with this tirade, Bonnie was standing with one hand on her hip, looking at him like she was trying to figure out a puzzle.

"I didn't realize that you cared so much," she said.

"I don't," he said. It was his automatic response when it came to Bonnie. It was a lie and he was pretty sure she knew that. "You saved my life, now I'm saving yours. Just returning a favor."

She stared at him some more, then asked, "is that all you're doing?"

As soon as the question left her lips, a pulse of nervous and uncomfortable energy shot through Damon's body. Even though they were standing several feet apart, he could feel her like she was standing right in front of him. _Was_ that all he was doing? _Was_ he only returning a favor? All this time apart, that had been his reasoning for all of his actions. There was nothing more to it than that. There couldn't be. She was Bonnie and he was Damon. That's all they would ever be.

"Yes," he answered.

Bonnie slowly nodded her head but he could tell from her face that she didn't believe him.

"I should rest," she announced. "Wouldn't want to waste your time and kill myself on accident."

There was a little bite to her voice and he narrowed his eyes, fully prepared to fight with her. But he thought better of it and left her alone in the room. He went right back to the living room and poured himself a drink. He sat there on the couch, drinking and thinking, until Stefan made his presence known.

"It's about that time," his brother said. "I'll get Kai. You get Bonnie."

Damon followed Stefan's orders and when he was standing outside of Bonnie's room again, he knocked softly a few times. When she didn't answer, he poked his head inside and spotted her on the bed, curled up on her side, asleep. He walked quietly along the hardwood floors and took a seat on the edge of the bed. He watched her for a moment, observing the way her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm. Her eyebrows were scrunched together just slightly, giving the impression that she was thinking about something important in her dreams. Without thinking, Damon lifted a hand and caressed her smooth cheek, and she leaned into his touch.

"Damon," she whispered and nuzzled closer.

He froze, wondering if she knew that he was there or if she was dreaming about him.

"Don't leave me," she mumbled.

Guilt gripped Damon and he felt bad all over again about how he had left her in the hands of Kai. He caressed her cheek and tucked some hair behind her ear.

"I won't let you out of my sight again," he promised her sleeping form.

"Damon," Stefan said from the open door. Damon jerked his hand away from Bonnie like he had been burned and he was met with his brother's suspicious gaze. "We need to go."

Thankfully, he left without saying anything else and Damon cleared his throat in an effort to wake Bonnie up. When she only snuggled closer to him, he scooted away and gently shook her.

"Bonnie," he said. She mumbled something so he called louder. "Bonnie!"

She jerked awake and looked at him in confusion. "What? What's going on?"

"Time to get this show on the road." He got up and offered his hand, which she took. He helped her stand and she took a deep steadying breath before heading towards the door. He grabbed Miss Cuddles and they went downstairs, where Stefan and Kai were already waiting.

"Everyone ready to get the hell out of here?" Kai asked with a big grin.

"Don't talk," Damon admonished. "Let's go."

So the four of them set out from the boarding house and into the forest. Kai and Bonnie walked ahead, with Damon and Stefan keeping an eye on them from behind. Damon was still mad about the plan, which was written all over his face. He stomped angrily all the way to the cave, but he scooped Bonnie up in his arms and jumped down so she wouldn't hurt herself. She muttered a 'thanks' and then the four of them stood and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

"I thought you said it was time, Stefan," Damon said, growing more irritated by the moment.

"Well, clocks and watches don't exactly work in this dimension so I made my best guess."

"We didn't miss it, did we?" Bonnie asked, her eyes wide with fear that they might be stuck there forever.

Stefan started to answer, then a large swirling portal slowly began to appear. He locked eyes with Bonnie, who then looked at Damon, who gave her the smallest nod.

"Now," he said.

Stefan ran to Kai and and held him back while Bonnie took a deep breath and began to chant. The portal grew bigger with strong winds that made Bonnie sway on her feet. She kept chanting as her nose bled and pain sliced through her head.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kai screamed. "Stop it! You'll kill us both!"

Bonnie kept going despite the faint feeling that was overcoming her. Damon watched, feeling mad and helpless, as she pushed herself further and further until she toppled over in his arms.

"That's enough!" Damon called over the sound of the vortex. "Stop before you really hurt yourself."

But she wasn't listening to him. Her eyes were glued to Kai and she kept chanting, louder and louder until her whole body was shaking.

"We've gotta go, Bonnie," Stefan yelled. "Do it now."

"No, stop!" Damon screamed.

But it was too late. She made one final push, then passed out in his arms. Damon cursed loudly and looked at Stefan, who was holding an unconscious Kai.

"Let's go," Stefan said.

Damon cradled Bonnie's body in his arms, holding tightly to her and Miss Cuddles, and he stepped into the portal with Stefan and Kai right behind him. They traveled at warp speed and Damon almost fell over when they landed in the Salvatore crypt, where all their friends were waiting. He was still getting his legs underneath him when he heard Caroline cry, "Bonnie!"

Her voice was quickly followed by Jo's.

"You weren't supposed to bring him back!" she said. "We have to kill him."  
>She grabbed the first sharp object she saw and lunged for Kai's prone body but Stefan jumped into the way. He grabbed the object from her hand and threw it down.<p>

"He's tied to Bonnie. If you kill him, you kill her. We need to find a safe place to let Bonnie rest and put Kai somewhere we can watch him. Then, one of you can untie their lives and you can do whatever you want with Kai."

"And since we can't go home," Damon started, "anybody got a place we can go?"

Caroline spoke up when she said, "Abbie's house."

"Lead the way."

He carried Bonnie out to Ric's car, where he sat in the backseat and lay her feet on top of his lap. He didn't speak as Ric drove and Caroline sat in the front seat, glancing back at them every now and then. Nobody said anything the entire way to Abbie's house, and by the time they got there, it was night. Damon carefully carried Bonnie to the front door, but when he tried to step in, he couldn't.

"You've gotta be kidding me," he groaned.

Caroline stepped inside and offered him a sympathetic look. "I'll take her, Damon."

"No," he said, shielding her body away. "Call that Jamie kid and make him invite me in."

"After Abbie turned into a vampire, she left the house to Bonnie. She's the only one who can invite you in."

Damon groaned and rolled his eyes. He looked at Bonnie's motionless body.

"Now would be a good time to wake up, Judgey," he said. But she didn't move. He reluctantly handed her body over to Caroline but kept hold of Miss Cuddles in one hand. He waited on the steps with Ric. "Well, this is shitty."

"Yep."

They turned and saw the second car of people arriving, the one that was carrying Stefan, Elena, Jo, Lucy and Kai's body in the trunk. Damon temporarily abandoned his post on the porch to join them as they dragged Kai to the barn and chained him up like an animal.

"Now that he's secure, time to do your thing, Big Bennett," he said to Lucy.

"Once the tie is severed, we kill him," Jo said.

"Yeah, I think we got that the first time," Damon said.

Lucy held out her hands, said a few words, and the barn doors flew open. A few seconds later, she was finished and she nodded.

"It's done."

Everyone looked at Kai, expecting him to open his eyes and say something, but he was just as lifeless as before. Damon kicked him and there was no response. He checked his pulse and when he found that Kai was still alive, he frowned.

"Why isn't he waking up?" he asked.

"I don't know," Lucy said. "I need to check on Bonnie."

She hurried out of the barn, followed closely by Damon, and she raced into Abbie's house. Damon was stopped once again at the door and he waited impatiently for any word from her or Caroline. A few minutes passed with no update, so he banged on the door loudly.

"What's going on?" he called.

Lucy reappeared and her look didn't make him feel any better.

"She's not waking up," she said.

Damon's stomach sank into his shoes.

"What do you mean she's not waking up? Is she dead?"

"No, but she's in something like a coma."

He laughed sarcastically and threw his hands up.

"I _told_ her this would happen. How long will she be like this?"

"Her magic is trying to heal itself, as well as her body. She's been through a lot, Damon. There's no telling how long this will last. It could be a couple of hours, or it could be a couple of weeks. We'll just have to wait and see."

Damon wanted to punch something, but he settled for a frustrated yell. He sat down on the steps and stayed there, even after the others returned from the barn. Lucy gave them an update on Bonnie's condition and warned them that as long as Bonnie was in the coma, she didn't think it was safe to kill Kai. It was bad news all around. There was some talk about who would stay behind. Lucy, of course, volunteered. Caroline was the only vampire who had actually been invited in, so she promised to keep an eye on Bonnie and give them daily updates. When it seemed that was all that could be done for moment, the rest of the crew decided to head back home. Everyone except Damon.

"You coming?" Ric asked, when he realized that he was walking to his car alone.

"Nope," Damon said.

"But you can't get inside."

"I realize that."

"You're just gonna sit here on the steps until she wakes up?"

"Yep," he said, popping his 'p.' Ric narrowed his eyes, as did Stefan and Elena who overheard him. "I want to be the first one to yell at her when she wakes up."

It was a Damon-esque thing to say, he knew, but it sounded fake even in his own ears. Nobody called him on it, though. They all quietly accepted his decision and Stefan said, "I'll come back to check you guys."

Damon nodded and watched them drive off. He heard Lucy and Caroline retreat into the house and he sat there on the steps, looking out at nature, prepared to wait however long it took for Bonnie to come to. He did look over his shoulder when he heard the door open a few minutes later and out stepped Caroline, carrying a few pillows and a blanket.

"I know you don't get cold or anything," she started, "but sleeping on this porch will probably get uncomfortable. So..." She offered him the items and he took them with a small smile.

"Thanks," he said.

She nodded and turned back to go inside.

"Hey Caroline?"

She looked at him over her shoulder. He looked at the stuffed bear that he had been clinging to for dear life, and he handed it to her.

"Give this to her."

She smiled but gave the bear back to him.

"You keep it," she said.

He shouldn't have been as relieved as he was to retain custody of Miss Cuddles.

"You'll tell me if she wakes up?" he asked.

"I promise, Damon, you'll be the first to know."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Damon's butt hurt from sitting on the rickety old wooden steps of Abbie's house, but he stubbornly refused to leave. He had hoped that Bonnie would awaken from her magical coma in a timely fashion, but one day turned into two, two turned into three, and three turned into six. Stefan, Ric and even Enzo had come by and tried to convince him to go home and wait to hear from Caroline about Bonnie's condition, but he wouldn't do it. It was partly because he was too worried to leave her and partly because he was so mad at her that he was itching for her eyes to pop open so he could berate her for putting herself in harm's way.

He stared out at the little garden next to the house while he sipped from a blood bag in one hand and a glass of scotch in the other. He wanted bourbon, but apparently Abbie only had scotch. He was glad he killed her.

His attention turned when he heard the wheels of a car crunching the gravel road. He made no move to greet the driver and he wasn't really surprised when Elena stepped out and offered him a tentative smile. He figured that she would show up at some point and her presence made him take another swig of booze.

"Hey," she said softly.

"Yo," he said dryly.

She put her hands in her back pockets and did that little unsure walk that he had once thought was cute.

"Any updates?" she asked.

"You think I'd be collecting splinters in my ass if there was an update?"

Elena rolled her eyes and forced herself into a spot next to him. He made no effort to make room for her and for a few minutes, they sat there in silence.

"Listen, Damon, I know you're still mad at me..."

"Mad? Noooo," he said, shaking his head dramatically. "I'm _mad_ at Bonnie for sacrificing herself, yet again. I'm _disappointed_ with you, Elena. I thought we were supposed to have some great epic love and you just went and erased me."

"I was miserable without you, apparently," she said. "It must have been really bad if I felt like I had to erase my memories. I'm sorry that I hurt you but I must have thought it was for the best."

Damon scoffed and drank.

"So are we just never going to be friends again?" Elena asked.

Rather than answer her question, he finished off his blood bag and stood up.

"I'm going to check on Kai," he said.

He sauntered down the gravel road, not surprised at all when Elena hopped up and walked alongside him. They didn't speak and he threw the barn doors open and walked over to Kai, who was chained by his arms and legs. His head hung down and Damon slurped some of his scotch.

"I want to kill him," he remarked. "But I guess I should let Bon-Bon have that honor."

He walked over to Kai and nudged him with his boot. When Kai didn't move or respond, Damon tossed the rest of his scotch onto his head and then turned and gave Elena a tight smile.

"He looked like he needed a drink."

"You know, I can't help but notice that you're awfully upset about this situation with Bonnie," Elena said.

"And you aren't? She's supposed to be your best friend."

"I am. I'm just surprised that you are. I know I erased my memories of you but from what I can recall, you and Bonnie weren't exactly friends."

"Things change."

He started to walk past her but she slid in front of him and widened her brown eyes. He could never say no to those eyes.

"What was it like where you were?" she asked softly.

Damon sighed heavily and shrugged.

"It was the same day over and over again. Not exactly fun."

"But you and Bonnie are friends now," she surmised. "You care about her."

He neither confirmed nor denied her suspicions and while he tried to think of how he would respond, he heard a light groaning sound. He frowned and turned his head to Kai. When Kai didn't move, Damon assumed he was hearing things. But then the groan happened again, and Kai's foot jerked slightly. Damon knelt down in front of the psycho and slapped him.

"Ugh," Kai muttered.

"Yeah, that's right. Wake up, you little bastard," Damon said, slapping him again.

Slowly, Kai lifted his head and opened his eyes. He squinted and looked confused, and when he saw Damon, it took a moment before a look recognition set in.

"What...?"

"You're back in the real word, buddy," Damon said with a sinister grin.

With each passing second, Kai became more cognizant and once he realized that he was restrained, he yanked at the metal chains around his hands and feet but was unable to free himself.

"Let me go!" he screamed.

"Now why would I do something like that? You might go on some kind of killing spree and then we'd have a problem."

"I don't want to kill you or even Bonnie. I just want to kill my bitch of a sister."

"See, I can't take that chance." Damon smacked Kai's cheeks and started to walk away, ignoring Kai's screams and strings of profanity. He shut the barn door with an iron bar and Elena walked with him back to the house. It was only after they got a little closer than Damon connected the dots that if Kai was awake, Bonnie probably was, too. He raced up the steps to the house and banged on the door.

"Caroline!" he called. "Kai's awake! Where is Bonnie? Open the door!"

He kept banging and only stopped when he heard two sets of footsteps coming towards the door. He stepped back a little, feeling a wave of anxiety come over him. He had no idea how worried he actually was about Bonnie until the door opened and there she was, standing in front of him, awake and with a small smile on her face. Damon had expected her to look tired and skinny and like she had been in a coma for a week. But she didn't. She looked surprisingly healthy. Her skin was radiant, her hair shiny and she didn't look like someone who hadn't eaten in days.

"Are you going to invite me in or what?" he asked.

She smiled and said, "come in, Damon."

The second his feet crossed the threshold, he wrapped her up in a hug that pulled her off the ground. Her slim arms went around his neck and she squeezed him tightly. He wanted to return the favor but he didn't want to hurt her, so he settled for holding her closely. He could have held her like that all night but after a few short seconds, he put her down and shook his head.

"If you do something like that again, I'll kill you myself," he warned. "You hear me?"

"I hear you," she said with a soft smile. She looked over his shoulder, where Elena was standing tentatively on the porch.

"Bonnie," Elena said, somewhat tearfully.

"Come in, Elena," Bonnie said.

Elena came in and engulfed her friend in a big hug, which Caroline joined. The three of them laughed and cried and Damon cracked a smirk but allowed them their girly reunion. When they had their fill of hugs and cries and shrieks, Bonnie turned to Damon and asked, "what happened?"

"Long story short, you and Kai were knocked out for about a week. Lucy tried to undo the life tie but I'm not sure it worked."

Bonnie's happy expression sobered at the mention of Kai's name. "Where is he?" she asked.

"The barn, tied up like the dog he is."

She didn't say anything as she walked out of the house and the other three followed her.

"Bonnie, where are you doing?" Caroline asked. "You need to rest. And eat."

"I'll do both, after I take care of this," she said with a determined face that Damon loved.

He watched as she waved her hand and the iron bar on the barn door flew off and into her hand. The doors swung open in a powerful gust and Bonnie marched inside, looking like some kind of vengeful bitch goddess. Kai opened his mouth to say something to her, but she didn't even let him speak before she chanted something low and deep in Latin.

"_Confringam vinculum_," she said repeatedly. The lights in the barn flickered and Kai screamed for her to stop. When she finally did stop, she walked to him and then knelt down, face-to-face with her tormentor. There were no words exchanged, no back-and-forth, when she suddenly and without hesitation stabbed the iron bar into his stomach.

"Bonnie!" both Caroline and Elena exclaimed.

Kai gurgled as blood spilled from his mouth.

"Just...kill...me," he said.

"Death would be too kind," Bonnie told him. "You're going to suffer. _Vos autem nolite stare, mori_."

She stood and turned around to the shocked expressions on her friends' faces and the proud grin on Damon's.

"Bonnie, what did you do?" Elena asked.

"Just a spell that will keep the bar in his stomach but won't kill him. Payback's a bitch."

"That's my girl," Damon said, feeling inordinately proud.

Bonnie smiled at him and clapped her hands together. "And now I'm ready to eat and rest. In that order."

Damon offered his arm and she looped hers through it.

"Pancakes?" he asked at the exact same time that she said, "no pancakes, Damon."

Each of them chuckled and they walked back to the house, arm-in-arm, leaving two shocked vampires in their wake. When they got to the kitchen, Bonnie sat at the table and Damon scoured the cupboards and pantry for something to make.

"Hmm, if you don't want pancakes, I do see some Hot Pockets. And I do know how to heat up a mean Hot Pocket."

"Not exactly the first meal I'd like to have fresh from a coma, but I guess it'll have to do," she said.

He tossed two chicken and broccoli Hot Pockets into the microwave as Caroline and Elena joined them. It was almost like they didn't even notice the two women, though, because they talked exclusively to each other, easily slipping back into their routine. Damon caught her up on the things that had happened while she was asleep and told her about everyone who had come by to see her. He didn't mention Jeremy, and if the fact that her ex-boyfriend hadn't bothered to check on her upset her, she didn't show it.

Bonnie excused herself to shower and change into some of the pajamas Caroline had brought of her, and after a respectable amount of time, Damon knocked on her door and poked his head inside. She was already underneath the covers, looking relaxed and peaceful.

"Hey," he said, "going to bed so soon?"

"You'd think for someone who's slept all week, I wouldn't be so tired."

Damon walked inside and made a motion for Bonnie to scoot over, which she did. He sat on the side of her bed and looked at her disapprovingly.

"If I wasn't so happy that you're alive, I'd be really pissed at you, you know," he said.

"I know."

"No more of this sacrificial lamb stuff, Bonnie. You made it this time, but what about next time? How many times can one girl die or kind of die before it sticks?"

"I know," she breathed. There was a moment of comfortable silence before she asked, "would you miss me? If I was gone for good?"

"I think the fact that I slept on the porch for a week should answer your question."

She sat up on her elbow and smiled. "You slept on the porch?"

"Yep."

"For me?"

"So I could lecture you," he corrected.

"Mm hm. Well consider me sufficiently lectured." The tale end of her sentence ended with a yawn and Damon tapped her nose.

"Go to sleep, Judgey. We'll talk more in the morning."

He tucked her in and turned off the lamp next to her bed and quietly closed the door behind him. He walked back to the kitchen, where Elena and Caroline were talking lowly.

"She's asleep," he told them.

"I'm going to take that as my cue to go to bed, too," Caroline said. "There's another bedroom and a couch that pulls out in case you guys...do...whatever." She waved her hands like she didn't know what to make of their situation and excused herself to the bedroom that she was using.

Damon cleared off the table and put the few dishes in the sink.

"Are you planning to stay?" he asked without looking at Elena.

"It's kind of late," she said. "So I guess so."

"I'll take the couch, then. It'll probably feel incredible compared to that porch."

When he turned around, Elena was looking at him like she was trying to put the pieces together.

"What?" he asked.

"You know, this whole time, I've been trying to figure out what I could have ever seen in you. The only memories I have are of you doing horrible things to people I care about, including Bonnie. But now, I see you interacting with her and being so...nice. And sweet. And loyal. And it's a side of you I don't think I've ever seen before. For the first time since having my memories erased, I see how I could love you."

Damon didn't speak as Elena looked at him and he allowed her words to sink in. All he'd hoped for while he was stuck in 1994 was to get back to Elena. He was still mad at her for destroying their past, but as she slowly approached him, his anger towards her began to melt a little bit. He didn't move when she cupped his hands in her hands and leaned in for a kiss. He wasn't sure how to respond when her lips met his because, as much as he wanted to believe they could pick up where they left off, they weren't the same. Elena didn't remember him. She was just acting on the emotions she felt at the moment, and he didn't know if that was good or bad.

"Oh," a voice said that caused them to break apart.

Damon met Bonnie's surprised face and for a short second, he felt a spike a guilt and he didn't know why.

"I thought you were asleep," he said, moving away from Elena.

"I needed some water," Bonnie said quietly. "Sorry to interrupt."

"You're not," he said, even though Bonnie and Elena gave him strange looks. He reached into the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water and handed it to Bonnie. "Here you go."

"Uh, thanks. Good night."

She turned and left and Damon couldn't help but felt the intense awkwardness in the room. He didn't know if it was because he and Elena had kissed, or because Bonnie had caught them kissing, or because Elena didn't remember him. The whole situation was confusing and it didn't feel right.

"I'm going to bed," he told Elena. "We'll talk later."

"Damon..."

But he left before she could say anything else. He disappeared into the hall bathroom and splashed water on his face. He stared at his own reflection and tried to figure out why he felt the need to apologize to Bonnie. It wasn't like she hadn't seen him and Elena kiss before. It wasn't like they were doing anything bad, necessarily. Maybe the timing was just wrong. Bonnie had just come out of a coma and getting romantic with Elena wasn't appropriate.

He decided that that was the source of the awkwardness and the strange feeling in his stomach. He was going to make it up to Bonnie in the morning with an apology and some pancakes. He needed her to know that until she was fully healed and they had Kai under control, she was his priority. Not Elena, not romance, not anything else. Just her.

For once, Bonnie Bennett was going to be the center of someone's universe. He just never thought it would be his.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you for the reviews and favorites on this story. I know this one is not as fast-paced as "The Other Side," but my intention with "The Other Side" was always to create a fun, light-hearted story with a romantic comedy feel. This one is more of a slow burn and hopefully a bit more true to the way the show is playing out. If you like it, please leave me your thoughts.  
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Chapter 6

Bonnie didn't sleep well. The bed was perfectly comfortable, but she still tossed and turned all night, her mind whirring with all kinds of thoughts. An uncomfortable knot rested in the bottom of her stomach like a rock. Worry gripped her bones even though she knew that she really didn't have anything to worry about. After all, she was out of purgatory and Kai was locked up. She had three vampire protectors in the house with her and her magic was back in full swing, should anything go awry. She told herself that there was nothing to worry about. She was safe. All was good.

But no matter how many times she said that, it did nothing for the weird feeling in her body. The back of her mind tickled with a reason that she tried to ignore, but when two o'clock rolled around and she still wasn't asleep, she finally admitted to herself in the dark of the room why she couldn't sleep. For some reason, walking in on that kiss between Damon and Elena bothered her. Acknowledging that fact made her feel slightly better, but she had no idea _why_ she felt that way. Damon loved Elena and even without her memories, Bonnie was sure that Elena loved him. Seeing them kiss shouldn't have bothered her.

But it did.

When she dug a little deeper, she recognized the foreign feeling in her belly as one of betrayal, which she knew was ridiculous. She explained it away as stemming from the fact that for several long months, she had been the sole recipient of Damon's attention. Sure, they had argued and bickered like cats and dogs, but at the end of the day, they were all each other had. They had talked and grown to know each other in ways she never would have expected. Seeing him kiss Elena just reminded her that she wasn't the most important person in his world anymore. If she was truthful, she probably wasn't the most important person in anyone's world, not even her own.

It was a sad thought, and it was the last one she had before she finally found sleep. The few hours of rest did nothing for her mood, even when the smell of pancakes and bacon wafted in from the kitchen. She thought about just staying in bed but she knew that wallowing in self-pity wouldn't help the situation. So she got herself together and put on a happy face as she exited the bedroom.

"Hey, look who's up," Damon said. He was standing at the stove, a dish towel thrown over his left shoulder.

"Good morning. It smells good in here," she said.

"We've got pancakes, of course," he said with a smirk.

"Of course."

"Bacon. Eggs. Cheese grits. Some of those flaky biscuits."

"Wow," she said, her stomach grumbling in anticipation. "What's the occasion?"

"You waking up, Judgey," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. He made her a plate and then handed it to her. "And it's kind of an apology, too."

She quirked an eyebrow. "An apology? For what?"

"Last night. That situation with Elena shouldn't have happened."

Bonnie's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Oh. Okay. You don't have to apologize for that."

"I know I don't _have_ to, but I am. I just want you to know that I'm not about to go chasing after Elena's panties and leave you in the dust. You're my priority right now, okay?"

His face was so sincere that it caught Bonnie off guard. That knot in her stomach that had been there since the previous night dissipated as his words sank in, and she nodded her head.

"Okay," she said softly.

He smiled and pointed to her plate. "Eat."

She returned his smile and took the plate to the small table, then started a pot of coffee. She sat down just as the front door opened and Caroline and Elena walked in, with their arms full of plastic bags.

"Hey, Bonnie," Caroline said with a bright smile. "You're up!"

"I smelled breakfast," she said.

"That I made all on my own," Damon chimed in, puffing his chest out proudly.

"What's with all the bags?" Bonnie asked.

"Well, considering that we can't get back into Mystic Falls and Kai is still here, we thought we might hole up here for a while and we needed some supplies." She produced some groceries, as well as a cooler full of blood bags. Bonnie started to get up to help, but Damon pointed at her.

"Sit. Eat," he directed. "I know you're all bad-ass Bennett witch again, but you need to keep your strength up."

"Yes, _Dad_," she said sarcastically.

"_Daddy_ is much sexier," he said with a naughty wink. Bonnie rolled her eyes and opened the newspaper that was on the table. He helped the other two vampires with the groceries and when the coffee finished, Caroline pulled out four mugs and poured.

"How's everyone like their coffee?" she asked.

"Black," Elena said.

"One sugar for me and Damon," Bonnie said as she finished off a pancake.

She missed the look that Caroline and Elena gave each other.

"Would you and Damon like cream?" Caroline asked in a teasing tone that neither Bonnie nor Damon caught.

"No," she said, not bothering to look up from what she was reading. She only looked up again when Damon took the seat right across from her and held his hand out. She separated the sports page for him and handed it over.

"Gonna do the crossword?" he asked.

"I don't know. The last time I started a crossword puzzle, a psycho showed up and tried to kill me."

Damon cracked a smile, and so did she. They each turned their attention to breakfast and the paper, and Elena and Caroline joined them at the table. Things were quiet for a few minutes, until Elena spoke up.

"Jeremy's coming over today," she announced.

And just like that, Bonnie's appetite disappeared.

"He is?" she asked.

"Yeah. He's been calling and asking me about you but I didn't want to get his hopes up. Now that you're awake, he wants to see you. If that's okay," she added hastily.

Bonnie felt her friends' eyes on her and she swallowed hard. She really wasn't sure if it was okay, but she supposed that she had to face him at some point.

"I guess so," she said. "He's not bringing his girlfriend with him, is he?"

"She is not his girlfriend," Caroline snorted. "She's just some girl that he..."

She stopped short when Damon and Elena glared at her, but Bonnie placed her utensils down and leaned forward.

"Just some girl that he, what, Caroline?" she asked. When Caroline didn't answer, Bonnie filled in the blanks her self. "Just some girl that he screwed?"

"Bonnie..."

"Figures," Bonnie breathed. She pushed her plate away and stood up. Caroline and Elena called to her but she walked outside to the porch, where she ran her hands over her face and parked herself on the steps. Her heart clenched tightly with an intense feeling of hurt but she barely had time to sort through her feelings before she heard the door open again. A body that she immediately recognized as Damon's scooted in next to her and he nudged her with his knee.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I should be," she said with a dry laugh. "But I'm not. And I don't know why."

"What do you mean, you don't know why? You love Jeremy and he's with someone else. That hurts."

"That's the thing, Damon. I could accept him being with someone else," she said, looking into his sympathetic eyes. "Yeah, it sucked when you told me that he had a girlfriend but I could accept it because I want him to be happy and move on. I wouldn't have wanted him to mourn me forever, not knowing if I would ever be back. But I did _want_ to be mourned, you know? I want to be missed."

"I'm sure he missed you, Bonnie," he said gently.

"Did he? Was he missing me while he was fucking some random girl? And I'm sure she isn't the only one. He couldn't even keep it in his pants when I was alive. Why should I expect him to be any different when I was dead?"

Hot angry tears formed in her eyes and she wiped them away, but not before Damon saw. He pulled her into his side and hugged her.

"It's okay," he hushed.

She sniffed and kept wiping her eyes hurriedly because she didn't want to cry, but she couldn't help it.

"I know you're mad at Elena," she said. "But she probably erased you from her memory because she literally couldn't live without you. I want that kind of love, Damon. I want someone who's so crazy without me that he can't even function. I know that sounds awful and stupid and maybe I've watched too many Disney movies, but it's true."

"It's not awful. Or stupid. You probably have watched too many Disney movies, but that's just part of your charm."

She laughed in spite of herself and she relaxed into his side hug, accepting his tight embrace and the occasional caress of her arm. They sat there like that for a while before Bonnie reluctantly pulled away, not wanting to overstay her welcome. Damon wiped a stray tear off her cheek.

"You'll find someone who can't breathe without you," he promised. "And when you do, this little puppy love you have with Jeremy will just be a cautionary tell for your daughter about why she shouldn't date at 18."

Bonnie smiled and shook her head.

"Thank you," she said.

He nodded, then stood and offered his hand. "Come on. Your breakfast is still in there."

She took his hand and steeled herself for the looks of pity she knew she would receive from Caroline and Elena. They did give her said looks but didn't say anything, thankfully. Caroline started an entirely different topic about all the shopping they had to do to celebrate Bonnie's return and the conversation eventually became easier. Everyone pitched in with the dishes before Bonnie excused herself to take a shower. She took her time and when she came out, she found some clothes that Caroline had spread out for her. She got dressed, then joined Damon in the living room. They didn't speak as they watched TV and she had nearly drifted off to sleep when she heard a car pull up. Her heart leapt into her throat and Damon patted her leg.

"You gonna be okay? Or do I need to hang around in case he needs an ass-kicking?"

She smiled. "I'll be okay."

They stood up together and he gave her a reassuring look before he left and took Caroline and Elena with him. Bonnie took a few deep breaths and prepared herself for whatever was about to happen. She wiped her hands on her jeans and felt a spike of nervousness when there was a knock on the front door. She licked her lips and opened the door, and a flood of emotions overcame her when she saw Jeremy standing there. He was the same boyishly handsome guy she remembered. His hair was long again and he looked like he'd been living at the gym. She didn't know whether to smile or speak, so she let him go first.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey."

"Can I come in?"

She nodded and allowed him inside, and they found their way to the couch where she and Damon had just been. Uncomfortable silence swallowed the room and Bonnie blew out a tense breath.

"So," she said. "I expected some yelling."

"While you were gone, I called your voicemail every day and did a lot of yelling and screaming. I guess I got it all out of my system."

"I see."

"Why'd you do it, Bonnie?" he asked, his voice surprisingly soft. "How could you make a decision like that and tell me about it over the phone?"

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "I knew you would try to stop me, but it was something I had to do."

"You broke my heart, you know," he said. "After all the shit I've been through and all the people I've lost, I couldn't lose you too. But I did. And here you are, looking drop dead gorgeous and I do still love you. But I can't ever be with you again. I can't be with someone who would give her life up that easily and not even consider how I felt."

A strange sense of sadness and relief settled over Bonnie, and a few tears collected in her eyes as she nodded. As unrealistic as it was, there was a part of her that thought she would always be with Jeremy. The finality in his voice and the logical part of her brain told her that despite all they had been through together, they were officially over. It sucked being dumped, but she knew he was right.

"For what's it worth, I'm sorry," she said. "I missed you while I was gone. I'll miss us and what we had, but I want you to be happy."

Jeremy nodded but smiled sadly. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Thanks."

"Maybe we can be friends again some day."

"I hope so."

He stood and opened his arms, and she walked into his hug. They stood there together for several long minutes and when they pulled away, Jeremy cupped her cheek and left without saying anything else. Bonnie sat on the couch again, alone, and she took some time to mourn the end of their relationship. She thought back to the good times, and the bad, and tried to accept that this bit of heartbreak was just a part of life. Some time later, the door opened again and Damon stepped in. He looked around cautiously.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said with a small smile.

"How'd it go?"

"It went," she sighed. "No blood or gore or yelling. It's just over."

Damon nodded. "So, what do you feel like doing now?"

"Honestly? I think I could use a drink."

He smiled. "That can be arranged."

Bonnie laughed drunkenly as Damon made car motor sounds and pushed his silver car game piece along the Monopoly board. He stopped on a house owned by Caroline and made a show of counting his money before he handed over an orange bill.

"Here, take your shitty little money," he said to her.

"Watch him, Care," Bonnie said, "he cheats."

"I do not cheat," he said, bumping her shoulder with his.

"Oh, so you didn't swipe a thousand dollars from the bank the last time we played?" she asked, bumping him back.

"I _borrowed_ some money that I had every intention of paying back."

"I'm keeping my eye on you, Damon," Caroline said with narrowed eyes. "Bonnie may be too drunk to notice that you shorted her $300, but I'm not."

"I'm not drunk!" Bonnie said, then burped right after. She erupted in laughter and waved a hand in front of her mouth. "Oh, God, that tasted like nachos."

Damon snorted. "Smelled like it, too."

She punched his arm. "Did you steal $300 from me?"

"Of course not. Who are you gonna trust? Me or Caroline?" He batted his eyelashes at her and she grinned.

"Not fair," she said. "You know your eyes are pretty."

"Sooo," Elena said, drawing everyone's attention back to her. "You guys played a lot of Monopoly together, huh? What else did you do?"

Bonnie was too drunk to notice the slight edge in her voice.

"Shopped. Ate. Talked. We played a lot of poker," Bonnie mused. "I refused to play Monopoly with him anymore after I realized he was cheating."

"'Cheating' is such a dirty word. I prefer to think that I was playing with a more liberal set of rules than you," he said, taking a big gulp of scotch.

"Ah ha, well it would have been nice to know that," she said. She yawned and rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm sleepy."

"Don't go to bed yet," he said.

"This is going to take forever and I'm tired."

"Okay, fine, you little baby," he teased. "I'll tuck you in. Say good night to your friends."

"Good night, friends," she sang.

She let Damon pull her up and he led her to her room, where she hummed and gathered some pajamas and twirled into the bathroom.

"All right, Drunky McDrunkFace," he said. "Hurry up. I've got a game to win."

"Blah, blah, blah," she said she shut the bathroom door. She brushed her teeth and brushed her hair back but didn't bother to wrap it. When she returned to the bedroom, Damon was stretched out comfortably with his hands behind his head.

"Well don't you look cozy?" she asked as she crawled into the spot beside him.

"This is sooo much better than the couch."

"I bet," she yawned. She curled up on his side and rested her head on his chest. He put an arm around her and she relaxed completely. "Thank you for today," she said.

"For what?"

"For not letting me get down about Jeremy and for everything. I needed it."

"You're welcome," he said.

His thumb rubbed her back and he looked down at her when she looked up at him.

"Do you really think I'll meet someone who can't live without me?" she asked quietly.

"I do. You'll meet some really lucky guy who'll do anything for you."

"What will he be like?" she asked, resting on his chest again.

"Well, he'll have to have a high tolerance for judgmental witches," he teased. "And he'll have to be one of those guys that doesn't mind having a girlfriend who could kick his ass. Maybe he'll even like that. You could tie him up and get kinky in bed."

Bonnie snickered and pinched his stomach.

"And what else?" she asked.

"Aaaand...that's all I got. It's bedtime now. We can talk more about your ideal man in the morning."

"Can you stay?" she asked. "Just until I fall asleep?"

He gave her a little squeeze. "Yeah, I can stay."

A smile lingered on her lips as she closed her eyes and breathed him in. He smelled so familiar, like home and comfort and safety. The day caught up to her, as did the booze, and soon, she was fast asleep.

She woke up several hours later when the sound of hard rain and thunder jolted her awake. She popped up and looked around and then her eyes landed on Damon, who was still stretched out comfortably underneath her. He was asleep and he looked so serene without a frown or a smirk on his face. In her still slightly inebriated state, Bonnie reached up and traced his cheek with the back of her finger. He moved a little, leaning into her touch, and she smiled. She leaned down and placed the a feather-soft kiss on his cheek, then resumed her position and fell into a peaceful slumber.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

When Bonnie woke up, she was resting on her side, facing the window. A smile graced her lips when she saw that the rain was still falling, cascading down the glass and creating a beautiful and peaceful backdrop to the morning. Occasional rolls of thunder added an oddly comforting effect, and Bonnie sighed and scooted back a little. She stopped when she felt Damon's body behind her, and she glanced over her shoulder and spotted one incredibly blue eye staring back at her. He rested his chin on her shoulder and asked, "who's Andrew?"

She frowned. "What?"

"Who's Andrew? You were mumbling about him in your sleep."

Bonnie had to think for a minute, then she smiled. "Oh, he was this boy I had a crush on when we were in first or second grade. I dreamt about him last night, for some reason." She turned around again, looking out the window, and made no move to leave his arms. "He was this little light-skinned boy with red hair and freckles. He had a big gap in his teeth and his legs were really skinny but, at the time, I thought he was the cutest boy I had ever seen."

"Mmm," Damon hummed against her skin. "You know who my first crush was?"

"Let's see. Betsy Ross?"

Damon threw his head back and laughed. "What? No! How old do you think I am?!"

Bonnie laughed and shrugged. "Old."

"Clearly. Do you have a much less offensive guess?"

"Drawing a blank, sorry."

"Actually, it was Emily."

Bonnie's eyebrow quirked and she looked over her shoulder at him. "Emily Bennett?"

"Yep," he said with a satisfied smile.

"Wow."

"Oh, don't be so surprised. She was very pretty. And smart. And loyal. And powerful. You know I like strong, sassy women. Obviously nothing was going to happen because of the social climate..."

"That's an incredibly nice way to say 'rampant racism and slavery.'"

He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I did have a crush on her."

"Well, look at you. And here I thought you only went for the brunette doppleganger types."

"I go for the hot types, thank you."

It was her turn to roll her eyes, and she settled back into her cuddle position and he did the same. They didn't talk for a while, and she just enjoyed the quiet moments and the rain.

"Thanks for staying with me last night," she said. "I slept well and I don't have a hangover."

"It's been said that my snuggles having healing powers."

She smiled and shook her head, then reluctantly left his embrace.

"I guess I should shower and get ready the for day."

"Any particular plans?" he asked.

"No. I think I'm just going to relax and give myself time to recover. It's been a crazy few months, you know?"

"I do know. And I'm glad you want to relax. I was preparing a speech on why you should sit your ass down somewhere, but since you're doing that voluntarily, I'll save it for another day."

"Wonderful," she said dryly. "Now get out. I need to disrobe."

He put his hands behind his head and wiggled his eyebrows. "Are you sure you don't need me to inspect you and make sure your wounds have healed?"

She picked up a pillow and threw it at him. "Out, pervert."

He held up his hands in surrender and once he was gone, she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She felt good, for the first time in a long time. Maybe a night of drinking and Monopoly was all she needed to get her mind in the right place. She hummed to herself and stripped before getting into the shower. She let the steaming water seep into her skin and muscles and she stood underneath the spray until the temperature began to drop. She took her time getting dressed and once she was refreshed and ready for the day, she greeted her friends in the kitchen.

"Good morning," she said cheerily.

Caroline and Elena, who were sitting at the table and speaking lowly to each other, both looked at her and said "morning."

"Fancy meeting you here," Damon said, bumping her with his hip. "Made you some coffee."

"Thanks. No pancakes?"

"I didn't want to make you tired of them."

"Seriously?" she asked, hands on her hips. "We had them every day for months and now suddenly you're worried that I'll get tired of them?"

He smirked. "I'm thoughtful like that."

"You're annoying like that," she corrected, returning his hip check. She slid past him and looked through the cupboards until she settled on oatmeal.

"So, Bonnie," Caroline said, perking up and plastering a big smile on her face, "what's the plan for today?"

"She's relaxing today, Blondie," Damon said.

"Bonnie, is your watch dog going to let me talk to you directly or do I have to make an appointment?"

Bonnie snickered. "I _was_ planning to take it easy, Care. Why, do you have other ideas?"

"We were thinking we could have a girls' day out. It's been forever since we had one and there's a movie theatre and some places to eat about fifteen minutes away."

Bonnie thought about it for a second and although Damon was giving her a look that said he did not approve of the idea, she nodded.

"Okay, that sounds fun."

"Great!" Caroline said. "You want to go after breakfast? They probably have some matinees playing."

"Sure."

"I'm going to freshen up, then."

"I'll join you," Elena said, not really making eye contact with either Bonnie or Damon. Once the two of them left, Damon leaned against the fridge and eyed Bonnie while she heated up her oatmeal.

"You're supposed to be resting," he reminded her.

"I know, but Caroline is right. We haven't had a girls' day in so long that I can't even remember the last one."

"Listening to Caroline talk your head off isn't my idea of letting your body will recover. Your brain will probably explode from all her yapping."

"Maybe I _like_ her yapping."

"You like mine more," he said. "Stay here with me today. We'll play Monopoly and take a nap."

"Wow, you sound like you're 90," she teased.

"I'm just looking out for you," he said in a sing-song voice.

"I know, I know. And I appreciate it. I promise that once we get back from our girls' time, I'll sit on the couch and not move a muscle. You can be my personal errand boy and take care of me. Okay?"

He frowned but nodded. "Fine."

They stood around the table, eating oatmeal and sipping coffee and talking, until Caroline and Elena reappeared and rushed Bonnie off with them. The rain had stopped, and Damon followed them out to the car and frowned the entire time.

"Don't stay out all day," he said.

"Yes, _honey_," she said sarcastically.

He folded his arms and scowled as Caroline pulled away. Bonnie looked at him out of the back window and chuckled when they were out of his line of vision. They were barely three minutes away when he texted her.

_i'm hungry. bring me back some food_

"Oh my God," she said lowly before she typed back a response of "get your own food."

"What?" Caroline asked.

"Damon," she said with a smirk and a shake of her head.

"He texted you already?" Elena asked, speaking up for the first time. "We just left."

"I know."

_please?_

"Remind me to get Damon something to eat from wherever we go," she said. She shoved her phone into her pocket and shut her eyes to enjoy the ride. They didn't talk much until they arrived at the movie theater. Caroline drove up to the side so they could see what was playing and they all agreed on a chick flick. As the three of them walked up to the box office, Bonnie could feel a sort of friction between them that she blamed on the many months of separation. Even before that, it wasn't like they just had time to be themselves or hang out and be young women.

The frostiness between them bothered her as they bought their tickets, got snacks and found their way to their seats in the very back row. Bonnie sat in the middle, with Elena to her left and Caroline to her right. They were the only ones in the theater and she reached over and took Elena's hand in one and Caroline's in the other. They each looked at her in confusion.

"I love you guys, you know?" she said. "Something weird is going on between us and I don't like it. I'm happy to be back home and I want my friends back, without all this weirdness."

She saw Caroline and Elena visibly relax and Elena was the first to squeeze her hand.

"I'm sorry, Bon," she said.

"Me too, Bonnie," Caroline said, her shoulders slumping. "I'm so happy you're back."

"I am, too."

"Good," she smiled. "Then let's start over from right now, okay?"

"Okay," they both said.

And just like that, the tension was gone. They enjoyed the movie, laughed loudly and awwed at the sweet parts. By the time they left, they were giggling and bumping shoulders with each other like old times. They walked through the quaint little streets and entered a pub to have lunch. When the waiter took their orders, Bonnie went last.

"I'll have a margarita to drink," she said. "And the flatbread pizza to eat."

"Sure thing," he said with a cute smile. He almost walked away when Bonnie called him back.

"Oh! And could I go ahead and place a to-go order?"

"Of course. What'll you have?"

"A double bacon cheeseburger with some barbecue sauce on the side. And sweet potato fries, if you have them."

"Yes ma'am, I'll place that when you guys finish up your food."

"Thanks," she smiled. But the smile fell off her face when she returned her attention to her friends and the tension was there again. "Okay, what is going on? You guys are looking weird again."

"It's nothing," Elena said but the look on her face betrayed her.

"I think I know you well enough to know when you're lying."

"It's you and Damon," Caroline blurted out.

Bonnie frowned. "Me and Damon? What about us?"

Caroline's eyes flitted to Elena, who was staring at the table. Bonnie waited for someone to say something but nobody did.

"What about me and Damon?" she asked a little more forcefully.

"Look, Bonnie, you don't have to pretend," Elena said. "I know that you're probably worried about how I feel about it, but the truth is that I chose to erase Damon from my memory and I really can't be mad."

"Mad about what?" she asked, still completely confused.

"I know that you guys are together," Elena said in a breath.

Bonnie continued to frown, and she looked from Elena to Caroline, hoping that the latter might shed some light on the situation. When she only shrugged, Bonnie ran the words over in her head and narrowed her eyes.

"Together?" she asked. "You think Damon and I are...together? Like, romantically?"

"Well, yeah," Elena said, suddenly unsure.

"We're not together."

"But you act all couple-y."

"Yeah, and Damon has been acting like he's your personal protector," Caroline added. "He acted like a crazy person the entire time you were gone and he won't let you out of his sight now."

"And you slept with him," Elena mumbled.

"That's all we did. We _slept_," Bonnie said emphatically. "You have to understand that we went through a lot together. And then I went through a lot on my own. The only person who understands is Damon. I know it probably seems strange for you guys to see us be close or whatever, but the fact is that we're friends now. Really good friends. Maybe even best friends," she said, the last part a little softer than the rest. "There's nothing going on between us other than that."

Elena sighed in relief, but a quick glance at Caroline told Bonnie that she wasn't convinced.

"Are you sure that's all?" Elena asked.

Bonnie reached over the table and took her friend's hands. "I'm sure," she said with a smile. "Damon loves you. He always has."

Elena nodded and then asked, "do you think I should get my memories back?"

The question surprised Bonnie but she took a moment to think before she answered.

"I wasn't here when you decided to erase him," she said. "I don't know what thought when into that or why you ultimately decided that was what you wanted to do. But even if I was here and I saw how you were doing, I'm not the right person to tell you that. You have to decide for yourself how you want to proceed with Damon."

"He's just so...different...with you. He's different from what I remember."

"He _is_ different. He's made some mistakes. Many mistakes. But he's not a bad guy. If he loves you, he's loyal to a fault. And he does love you, Elena."

Elena nodded as she took her friend's words under advisement. Bonnie looked to Caroline to add something, but the blonde just smiled and nodded.

"The drinks are here," she announced as the waiter passed them around to the right person. "Enough about Damon."

They didn't talk about him again for the rest of their time out. The girls had a good time talking and drinking and laughing. When it was time to go, Bonnie took Damon's food and they headed back to the house. He was just leaving the barn when they pulled up, and he opened the back door and helped Bonnie out.

"Food, as requested," she said, handing him his to-go box.

"Mm, smells good. And bacon-y."

"I know what you like," she said with a wink.

He put his arm around her and they walked to the house together, ahead of Elena and Caroline.

"How was the outing?" he asked.

"Good," she said with a nod. She added in a very low whisper, "weird."

He raised an eyebrow and she shook her head slightly, letting him know they would talk about it later. She joined him in the kitchen while he ate his food and eventually the other two joined, as well. Small talk ruled the conversation until Damon sighed and rubbed his stomach.

"That was good. The only thing that would make it better is a little blood," he said with a grin.

"There are blood bags in the fridge," Caroline told him.

"Yeah, but I could use something a little...fresher."

Bonnie narrowed his eyes at him. "Damon," she warned.

"I've been a good boy," he said. "The whole time I've been here, I've been on blood bags. I think I deserve just one bite fresh from the source. It'll be a quick eat and snatch and I won't hurt anyone."

She stared at him like she was unimpressed, then rolled her eyes. "Fine."

"I'll be back," he said. "Then you owe me a completed Monopoly game."

He stood up from the table, and Elena surprised everyone when she stood up too.

"I'll come with you," she said.

He looked uncertain, but then shrugged and said, "okay."

They left together, with Bonnie and Caroline still at the table, and once they heard the two vampires run off, Bonnie sat back in her seat and folded her arms.

"So," she said.

"So," Caroline said, mirroring her position.

"Are you going to tell me what's been eating you all day?"

"Are you going to tell the truth about you and Damon?"

"I did tell the truth, Caroline. There's nothing going on between us."

"Bonnie, Elena may not be very observant but I am. When you were giving your little speech about how you two are just friends, you left out a huge part of the explanation. You said that he loves Elena."

"He does."

"You never said anything about your feelings for him."

"I didn't realize that I needed to state the obvious but here it is: I don't feel that way about him."

"Oh please!" Caroline shouted. "You should see yourself when he comes into the room! Your entire face lights up! You find every excuse to touch him and be near him and flirt with him! You slept in the same bed as he did, Bonnie!"

"So what?" she shouted back. "It's not like we had sex. We slept. That's it. Why are you making such a big deal of it? You slept with Stefan!"

"Exactly," she said with a scoff. "And you know why that doesn't help your case at all? Because I'm in love with Stefan."

Bonnie had already opened her mouth to refute whatever Caroline said, but she was stopped cold by that admission. Caroline sighed and shook her head.

"Stefan found out how I felt and he didn't return my feelings. Now I feel like I've lost my best friend and it sucks. I don't want the same thing to happen to you. I see how close you and Damon are. I know you care about each other but I can also see that it's more than that. You love him."

"As a friend," Bonnie refuted.

"As more than a friend, Bonnie. I've only ever seen you look that way with one other person and that was Jeremy. I'm not trying to give you a hard time, but you've been through so much already and I don't want you to get hurt." She patted Bonnie's hand and said in her softest voice, "Damon loves Elena. Stefan loves Elena. They always will."

Bonnie let the words sink in, but she ignored the way they hurt and stung because she couldn't bring herself to admit that maybe Caroline was right.

"Thank you for worrying about me," she said. "But I won't get hurt. Because I don't like him that way."

Caroline smiled sympathetically. Bonnie could tell that she wanted to say something else, but she only said, "okay."

And that was that. They didn't talk about it again. They moved on to other things, like the fact that Alaric, Jo and Lucy were coming over to see Bonnie and figure out what to do with Kai. Damon and Elena eventually returned and appeared less awkward around each other than they had before. Elena was smiling in a flirtatious way and Damon wasn't shooting her down.

Bonnie's stomach twisted in knots.

Still, Damon turned his attention to Bonnie and he nodded towards the door. "Walk with me?" he asked. She took his hand and they walked outside, passing the barn and going into the open space, away from the house. Once they were out of earshot, Damon nudged her with his shoulder.

"So, do you think I'd be a complete idiot to consider taking Elena back?" he asked.

A spike of discomfort shot up her body, but she ignored it and shrugged noncommittally.

"Not a _complete_ idiot, no," she said.

"Just a partial one?" he smiled.

"Not an idiot at all, if that's what you want to do. Who am I to tell you how to manage your love life?"

"Well, I trust you," he said simply. "You know me. You know Elena. As judgey as you are, your judgments are usually pretty good. So do me a favor and actually judge a situation for me for once."

Bonnie wanted to laugh and tease him right back but her heart just wasn't in it. Caroline's words were buzzing around her head like an annoying swarm of bees and she couldn't stop the feelings of jealousy from growing out of every cell in her body. She tried to tell herself that she was only jealous because she didn't want to have to give up Damon's undivided attention. She knew that once Elena was back on the scene, everyone else would be expendable. And she just couldn't go from being important to him to not mattering at all. Not everything they'd been through together.

"Bon-Bon?" he asked.

"I don't know, Damon," she said in a rushed breath. "It's your call."

He stopped walking. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing."

"Yeah, something. What is it?"

"Maybe I just don't want to play Matchmaker for everyone as soon as I wake up from a coma," she snapped.

Damon's hands went up and he backed away.

"Wow. Okay."

She sighed and ran her hands along her face.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean that."

"You meant it. But it's okay. You're right. I shouldn't have asked you that."

He started walking again with her next to him and the silence became uncomfortable. Bonnie glanced at him a few times but he looked straight ahead.

"Don't be mad at me," she sighed.

"I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at myself. I told you that you'd be my priority but instead of helping you rest, I'm asking you stupid questions about me and Elena. I won't ask you anything like that again."

"No, do ask me," she said, taking hold of his arm and tugging until he looked at her. "I like when you ask my opinion."

"Then why did you yell at me like that?"

"Because. I don't want to fall back into that trap of being good old dependable Bonnie that people only rely on to fix their problems. Elena already asked me what I thought of your relationship and it irritated me. That's all."

"Is that why you said the day was weird?"

"Kind of," she said. She dropped his arm and continued to walk.

"So are you going to tell me more or make me guess?" he asked.

"It's stupid," she said.

"Then share with me so we can laugh together about how stupid it is."

She looked at him and his smirky face and her heart leapt at the idea of telling him that Elena and Caroline thought they were romantically involved. What if he laughed like it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard? What if he didn't laugh at all and only asked her what was so funny or stupid about that? She couldn't decide which was worse.

"Caroline and Elena thought that you and I were together," she said. She figured that putting it out there was the best way to go. If he laughed, she would laugh. If he didn't, she'd figure out how to respond.

"Together," he said.

"Yeah."

"Like...?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."

He squinted his eyes a little bit and Bonnie wasn't sure what to make of that. He didn't say anything for an excruciatingly long time and she only spoke again to fill the silence.

"They said we act couple-y or something like that," she said, waving her hand in dismissal.

He nodded. "Yeah, I guess we do act kind of couple-y."

She still didn't know what to make of his response. He was neither outraged nor in agreement. The neutrality was probably worse than any reaction she could have imagined.

"Sooo...you don't think that's stupid?" she asked.

He poked out his lips and shook his head. "No."

Her heart raced.

"Oh," was her response.

"I mean, what's stupid about it? You're hot. And smart. And powerful. You know I like sassy witches."

Her heart almost beat out of her chest.

"But you'd never put up with me," he said like it was a foregone conclusion. She opened her mouth to refute that, to tell him that he wasn't so bad and sometimes he was even fun and cute. But he spoke again and said, "but despite that, if I wasn't still trying to figure out this thing with Elena, I'd totally pursue you, Judgey."

He winked and smiled, and she forced a smile in return even though he had no idea how much he had just crushed her. It was kind of insane to think that earlier in the day, this conversation wouldn't have bothered her in the slightest. She would have even found it amusing and flattering. But now, knowing that Caroline was right, it hurt like hell.

She was quiet and mostly numb as they continued to walk. Damon talked about something or other but she was too busy replaying every moment of the last several months. How long had she been in love with him, she wondered. Had it happened at some random moment while he was cooking her those disgusting pancakes? Maybe during a late-night chat or a game of poker? Or maybe it hadn't really happened until he was gone and she was missing him in a way she had never missed anyone before.

Suddenly, she was hyper aware of everything. She could feel his hand as it swung a few inches away from hers. She could smell him and the scent of his leather jacket. His proximity made her hair stand on end. His voice made her heart lurch. When he smiled, she wanted that smile only for her. She wanted his jokes to only be for her. She wanted his zealous loyalty, every ounce of it, for her.

They walked until the sun went down and she only somewhat noticed when he told her that they should go back. He put his arm around her again and she had to fight the urge to push him off of her. She didn't want his embrace if it didn't come with his heart. That was crazy and she knew it, but it was true. They made it back to the house, where a few more cars were parked, and Bonnie disentangled herself from him long enough to open the door. As soon as she did, she saw Lucy.

"There she is," Lucy said with a big smile. "Glad to see you back in the land of the living, cousin. Even though you look like you've seen a ghost," she laughed.

Bonnie tried to smile, but her eyes landed on Caroline. They didn't have to communicate verbally. She knew that Caroline knew from the way the blonde half-smiled and nodded, like she understood what it was like to be so close to the guy you loved but so incredibly far away.

"Where's Ric?" Damon asked.

As if on cue, there was a blood-curdling scream from outside. Everyone's head snapped around and Damon rushed out, followed by everyone else. Bonnie stood on the porch, where she could see Ric crawling out of the barn, injured. They all ran to him and once Damon flung the barn doors open, he saw that Kai was gone.

"What happened?" he asked, as he helped Ric up. He had a stake in his chest, just a few inches from his heart. Damon ripped it out and Ric yelled.

"He's gone," Ric grunted. "Jo got close to him, he grabbed her. It all happened so fast. He took her."

"Great," Damon said sarcastically. "Looks like we've gotta find him and kill him for real this time. Time for a road trip."

"I'm coming," Ric said.

"Me too," Elena offered.

"Me too," Caroline said.

"Not me," Lucy laughed. "I've done my part. You guys figure out the rest."

"Fine, you stay behind and look after Bonnie," Damon directed.

"I'm coming with you," Bonnie said.

"What? No. You need to rest. You've been through a lot and this isn't the time to play Superwoman."

"He's right, Bonnie," Lucy said.

"I'm coming, Damon," she said assertively. "And you can't stop me."

He rolled his eyes. "We can handle him on our own."

"Maybe you can and maybe you can't. Either way, I'll be there."

She knew he wanted to ask her why she was so damn stubborn. She also knew that she should stay behind and let them handle a dangerous situation without her, for once. But she also knew that if he left, she would sit around and wonder what was happening between him and Elena and she'd only worry herself to death. Might as well do something productive with her time. When she folded her arms across her chest and dug her heels in, Damon sighed.

"Fine. Everybody get ready. We're going to kill us a psycho."


End file.
